Overslept
by TheOmega360
Summary: Average college student, Sam King, finds himself stuck in the year 11945 A.D. Struggling with coming to terms that mankind is near extinction, irritated that the Androids revere humans as gods of sorts, and trying to figure out how to contribute to the battle against the Machines, Sam seeks answers. Answers that will either lead the Androids to a brighter future, or their doom.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **At Least It Wasn't My Alarm Clock**

Someone once said, "the only thing certain about the future, is uncertainty." I can't exactly remember who said that. But whoever it was kinda had a point. A very good point. We never know what's going to happen when we wake up the next day. Life could go on as we expect it. Or it could come to an end. We could die in our sleep without ever realizing it until we get to the afterlife—if that even exists. Or we could just wake up the next day with a massive hangover and realize "wait, this isn't where I parked my car." And then things possibly go downhill from there.

That last situation is pretty much the situation I was in.

Minus the hangover and the car parts.

I remember clear as day that I feel asleep in my college dorm room after another rough day of mental exhaustion, but when I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that my back, was extremely uncomfortable. Noticing this, I let out a pained groan, and slowly sat up as I crack various bones in my vertebrae.

" _What the hell, since when did my bed turn into solid rock?"_ I thought to myself. I mean, the dorm mattress wasn't great but it sure as hell felt a lot better than most of the hotel mattresses I slept on in the past. I can never sleep on any of those. But what I woke up to find myself sleeping on, I'm surprised I got any sleep at all. Because what I was sleeping on was _actually_ rock. A concrete floor to be exact. I was still kinda groggy, so at first I didn't register what I was looking at. I've had times where I wake up in my dorm room, expecting to be in my bedroom back with my family, and then I realize, "Oh, right, I'm at college."

Except this time it was, "Wait, what happened to the carpet?" I was mentally asking myself that, as confusion took root in my mind. Which was then followed by panic as I looked up.

"The fuck?!" I practically shouted. Whatever sleep I still had in my system, it was definitely gone now.

Where I was at this moment, I had no clue, but it definitely wasn't my dorm room. In fact it wasn't anywhere near the campus! Going by the structure in front of me I was in some sort of factory that had seen better days. I was in a tall circular room where one massive chunk of said room was missing entirely. Like it had been ripped away. By what, I couldn't tell. But when I looked too my left I saw…what appeared to be the busted remains of a massive buzz saw blade. Like REALLY massive. About as tall as an apartment complex.

"Well," I thought out loud. "That explains how the massive chunk of this building is missing." Now for the better question: Where in the hell am I? And while we're at it, how the hell did I even get here?

"Reactivation complete."

That sudden feminine robotic voice made me jump out of my skin. My current random situation was already freaking me out, and now I was hearing voices?! I turned in the direction where I heard the voice, which was directly behind me. There was a massive pile of rubble in my sight.

"Wh-who's there?!" I asked.

"This unit is designated Tactical Support Unit Pod-106. Assigned to YoRHa Unit 11B."

…I didn't understand what half of that meant.

"Uhhh…"

"Running diagnostic," the voice said again. "Complete. Result: Auto-locomotive subsystem non-functional. Visual Sensors: Functional. Auditory Sensors: Functional. Vocal Synthesizer: Functional. Bio Scan: Functional. Black Box Scan: Functional. Connection to Bunker: Non-functional. Dynamic Scan: Damaged. Photon Bullets: Functional. Beam: Functional. Mirage: Functional. Blade: Functional. Bomb: Damaged. Hammer: Damaged. Wave: Damaged. Gravity: Damaged. Request: Would the present individual please approach this unit."

"…Uhhh…you talkin' to me…?"

"Affirmative."

…Well, might as well try to figure out at least part of this predicament that I'm in. So, I decided to pick myself up off the floor and make my way over to the source of the voice. After I was done stretching the last bit of fatigue out of my system, I noticed…my bed…over by the pile of rubble…completely smashed and destroyed.

…Okay, so it's clear that I did not get here by any natural means. Going to have to put that headache on the back burner though. First, the voice. I slowly made my way over to the rubble pile.

"Umm…are you buried underneath here?"

"Affirmative."

I sighed. "Great. Physical labor after I just woke up. Fucking Mondays."

Reluctantly I started to rummage through the rubble, rock by rock. Considering the size of the pile, this was a task that was quite tedious. No matter how many rocks I removed, more just seemed to take their place. It took a solid five minutes of digging, before I stumbled upon what I thought was talking to me. But it definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

But then again I wasn't really sure what I was expecting.

It was a black box-looking machine with two stubby arms.

"Uhhh…are you the…thing I'm supposed to be looking for?" I asked.

"Affirmative. As stated before, this unit is designated Tactical Support Unit Pod-106."

"…Uhhhh…yeah, there's no way I'm going to be able to remember that in conversation. Is there anything I can call you for short?"

"Affirmative. Most YoRHa units address their Tactical Support units simply by 'Pod,' or by their designated number."

"…okay, so I guess…106, then?"

"Affirmative."

"Works for me."

There was a bit of silence between me and the strange machine for a bit. What the hell exactly was this thing? A robot? It said it was a support unit to…Your-Hah or whatever the hell. Was that some kind of organization? Military? No way, whatever this thing was it looked way to advanced from modern technology. The field of robotics hadn't produced anything like this, not as far as I was aware…but then again, concealed projects were a thing. Maybe this was some new kind of…I dunno, drone that was having a field test? But if that were the case, why was it stuck under a pile of rubble? Was it abandoned? Did it fail? No, if it failed wouldn't the people who made it want to retrieve it to find out why it failed? And from what I could tell, aside from a few scrapes…and a few busted functions, according to its diagnostic run, it seemed to be working just fine. I was about to ask 106 more information about itself, but it spoke again before I could open my mouth.

"No Black Box signs detected. Hypothesis: 11B has either been destroyed, or is missing. Querry: Has the individual present made recent contact with any YoRHa units?"

…

"Uhhh…I…want to say…no?" Wait a minute, 106's life story would have to wait. "Actually, real talk here, I have no clue about most of what your saying, I literally, just woke up here, and I don't even no where here is. I just went sleep in my room, on my bed, which is currently lying wrecked over there, and then when I wake up to find that my back is killing me, because I've apparently been sleeping on a concrete floor for who knows how long."

Another moment of silence.

"Elevated stress levels detected in vocal pattern," 106 spoke.

No shit.

"No black boxes in the area have been detected. Analysis: The individual present may be a missing Resistance android."

…hold on, what?

"Android?" I asked, not sure what this thing was getting at. "What, you mean like a robot or something? That kinda stuff only exists in sci-fi, I mean do I look like an android to you? And what the hell is the Resistance? What is there to resist other than government conspiracies that may or may not exist?"

The moment I finished that thought, I immediately realized how ridiculous that sounded. You're talking to a friggin robot, you idiot. It's pretty clear that sci-fi isn't "fi" right now; it's…I dunno what that would be called, non-sci-fi? Deriving from non-fiction?

Getting back on track, there was once again, another moment of silence. I got the feeling this was going to be pretty consistent for a bit.

"Analysis: The individual present does not contain a black box signal. Logic would dictate that you are a Resistance android. However, you have denied that you are an Android, and in addition, claim to have no knowledge of the Resistance and therefor, the war."

Oh goodie, more shit that didn't make sense. "The war?" I asked. "What war? I mean, I know there's like a few wars going on in the Middle East, but as far as I know there's nothing like World War II going on in the States. Unless…oh God, did I end up in the Middle East some how?!" Or did World War III actually happen and I just slept through it somehow? No, that didn't make any sense. _None_ of this made any sense. I was seriously on the verge of flipping my shit at this point.

"Analysis: The individual present has—"

"Would you _please_ stop referring to me as 'individual?!'" I shouted, getting increasingly frustrated at this whole mess. "I have a name! Sam King!"

There was yet another moment of silence before 106 started to continue where I interrupted it. "…Analysis: The individual present has identified himself with a name typically given to humans. First name: Sam. Last name: King. Is this correct?"

Okay, seriously, this was getting ridiculous, I was getting more confused by the minute. This thing was talking like it never saw a human before. "Uuuuhhh…yes?"

"Confirmed. Analysis: Data in conversation has yielded possible evidence that you contain information about the old world. Query: Are you a human?"

"Uh, yeah, what, isn't that obvious?" And what did it mean by "old world?"

"Initiating Bio-Scan." Just then a small antenna popped out of the little machine. I guess it was scanning me to see that I was human? Wasn't really sure why. "Scan complete. Sam King: Confirmed human. Query: Why are you not on the moon?"

Okay, what? "Uh…why would I be on the moon? I mean, as far as I'm aware, colonization on there hasn't even started, let alone been possible for years. We've only been able to put people on there in small groups of three or five and even then it takes a long time to get to and from the moon. Like…eight months for both trips."

"Since the start of the Machine War, all remaining humans from Earth have migrated to the moon, leaving the androids to fight the Machine life forms and their alien creators."

Okay, WHAT?! "Uuuuummmm…okay, I can hear you saying words, but they don't exactly line up in a sentence that makes sense. First of all; Machine War? What the hell is that and when did that start? Second; aliens? Seriously? You honestly expect me to believe that?"

"…This unit would like to express concern of Sam King's lack of knowledge of current events." Okay, was this thing trying to sass me? "Query: What was the date when you went to sleep?"

"Uuuhh…well, it was about two in the morning…so technically it was…January 20th, 2018. Why?"

...

"Mission objective updated. Under YoRHa protocol 221, all information pertaining to humanity must be preserved. This, by extension, includes any human survivors on the planet. Current objective: Escort Sam King to the Resistance camp and provide support by whatever means necessary. Upon arrival, establish connection with YoRHa unit 42O and alert the Commander of Sam King's status as a human. If possible, confirm the status of 11B."

"Um…does that mean you're going to help me?"

"Affirmative. However, this unit's auto-locomotive sub system is inoperable. This unit will not be able to move without assistance. Request: Please pick up this unit."

"Okay…" I reached down and picked up 106 with both of my hands. It was…surprisingly not as heavy as I thought it would be. I mean it wasn't a cotton ball, but it wasn't as heavy as I was expecting it to be.

"Protocol 531 prohibits any non YoRHa units, human or otherwise, from interacting with Tactical Support Units. However, considering Protocol 221 assumes priority, temporary exceptions have been made. Please take good care not to damage this unit any further."

"Okay…thanks I guess…so…any idea how to get to this…Resistance camp?"

"Unable to obtain satellite information. Distance to Resistance camp unknown."

"Great…so you have no idea how to get out of here then?"

"Affirmative."

I sighed. "Well, no use standing around here then. Might as well make use of the missing wall and start walking."

"Analysis: The damage done to the structure appears to have been made by the Goliath Class target enemy. Caution is advised, as the status of target enemy is unknown."

"Target…hold on…Goliath…would this "Goliath" happen to be the owner of that oversized buzz saw over there?"

"Affirmative."

"…fun place," I said sarcastically. I may be an atheist, but I remember reading the bible enough times to understand the significance behind the name Goliath. Massive whatever-it-is bearing a massive buzz saw equals a massive hole in the wall. Logic…of sorts.

"Hypothesis: Other hostiles may be present. Query: Are you capable of defending yourself?"

"Uh-whoa hold on a second! I'm not going to have to fight am I?!"

"Affirmative. However, due to this unit's inability to mobilize, combat options are limited. Request: Please pick up 11B's YoRHa issue blade, located five feet to your right."

I looked over to my right and sure enough there was a red colored sword lying on the ground near by another busted machine that kinda looked like some sort of…bipedal jet. That's what I was going to have to use?! Against what?! "Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, WAIT! I'm not a combatant okay? I don't know how to hold a sword, much less how to fight! I can't do that!"

"Response: This unit hypothesized Sam King's inability to battle. Proposal: While avoiding combat would be the best solution, traversing without a method of effective self-defense is unwise. Summary: Pick your fights."

"But…" As much as I didn't believe half of what this thing was telling me, I couldn't entirely deny the possibility of getting mugged. I never took any self-defense classes, but I'm sure anyone with a dagger go bug-eyed at a guy with a long sword. So, reluctantly, I walked over and picked it up. It was about the weight I expected. It basically was a simple katana but going from the design of the hilt and handle, it suggested this thing was a little more advanced than your average katanna. Maybe it would be good for more than two strikes unlike my fake katana back home.

"Okay, so...there's a problem…not only do I have no clue how to use a sword effectively…I'm going have to issues carrying you in my arms and swinging a sword around."

"Acknowledged. Proposal: This unit's limbs can grapple on to Sam King's shoulders and act as, what the humans in the old world refer to as, a backpack, of sorts."

"That…actually would work pretty well. Just don't grip to tightly on the shoulders, okay? They get sore pretty easily."

"Acknowledged." 106 then grabbed onto my right shoulder and swung itself around my back and then hooked onto my left shoulder.

The weight was about the same as the weight of the backpack that I carried around with me at college. I usually had a LOT of books in there, so the weight was about the same, if maybe slightly heavier. But other than that, it was manageable.

"Further analysis yields that this unit can provide cover fire from Sam King's rear."

"Well, good to know that I an extra set of…eyes, I guess, for lack of a better term, behind me. Also, could you just call me Sam? When I hear someone address me by my full name, I turn around and expect to see my mathematics professor." And that guy's a dick to me, and the rest of the students in my class. Or any class he teaches.

"Acknowledged."

"Okay…welp…here goes…"

Silver lining; at least it wasn't my alarm clock.

…

VOICE CAST

Sam King – Andrew Hindle

Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Okay, so it looks like so far people are enjoying this, but there's one thing I'd like to point out.

Mr. Beaver Buttington: (Sigh) While I appreciate your criticism in general, the tone in which you delivered it I found to be rather rude and obnoxious. I have made changes to the previous chapter in light of that, but the fact remains that I do not approve of how you practically spelled out your sarcasm in your review. I respect that you are entitled to your opinion, but if you're going to leave a review (and this goes to everyone reading this), at least _attempt_ to do so with respect. Otherwise I will be prompted not to take you seriously and just ignore you altogether. I apologize if I made myself sound like an ass, but in my experience, that's really the only way I can get my point across.

Now with that mini rant out of the way, let's dive right back into this hear breaking world! NEEEEEEEXT!

 **Chapter 2**

 **Why Are They Blindfolded?**

"Jesus Christ, it looks like a hurricane came through here." I hadn't walked even a yard, and already I was seeing various dead robots scattered across the ground of the factory.

Everywhere I turned there we the remains of thousands of machines. Some were still in one piece with a few gashes in their bodies; others had been ripped to shreds. It looked swords had done most of the damage, but others had holes blasted through them, as if they had been shot. There were even some that had massive gaping holes in their bodies. No gun that I know of could have done that.

"Inaccurate statement," 106 spoke. "The damage a caused by a hurricane would be more significant than-"

"I'm guessing nobody programmed you with a sense of hyperbole," I interrupted.

"Hyperbole. Definition: An exaggerated phrase that is not meant to be taken literally. Query: Was Sam's aforementioned statement used as an analogy for the state of disarray the factory is in?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Acknowledged. Documenting understanding of the use of hyperboles in terms of context."

"So what are these things?" I asked.

"Destroyed Machine life forms," 106 responded.

"Wait…these are the things that were created by the so called 'aliens?'" They really weren't much to look at. Their design was pretty simple. They looked like they were made out of rusted metal, and the majority of them were small with stubby arms and legs. They all had spherical heads with beady little eyes. There were others that were a bit larger and stockier in design. Almost like they were trying to mimic the appearance of humans. Some of them even had weapons too. Like swords and axes. A few of the smaller ones even had small cannons attached to their torsos.

"Analysis: Skepticism detected in Sam's vocal patterns," 106 voiced.

"Well…for something that an advanced race built…at least that's what I'm assuming anyways…I just have trouble believing that their creations would look…I dunno…more intricate. This? This is just…plain and simple…and kinda dull too." If these were what I was going to fight, maybe this wouldn't be as bad as I thought. But then again, considering how many dead ones I saw, it was reasonable to assume that they worked in groups. One or two small ones I could probably handle, but a whole bunch of them? That's a different story.

"Affirmative," 106 replied.

With nothing else noteworthy, I just continued to walk. Aimlessly, I might add. Because 106 had absolutely no clue where to go, neither did I. I was kinda just stumbling around in the dark. Quite literally in fact. The factory's lighting was…kinda busted. I actually ended up tripping and falling over several dead "Machine Life Forms," as 106 kept referring to them as.

After I tripped about the tenth time, 106 informed me that all Your-Hah Pods come equipped with flashlight modules. But then added it was a moot point if it was clinging on to my back. So yeah, add that to the list of things that needed to be fixed on this thing.

After about twenty minutes or so, according to 106, I had come across what looked like a storage room. There were a lot of Machine Life Forms in cages. But it didn't look like they were moving.

"Is this place some kind of production factory for these things?" I asked aloud.

"Analysis: This factory contains various machines that serve production purposes. Hypothesis: It is very likely the Machine Life Forms have repurposed this factory for the purpose of producing more Machine Life Forms. Sam King's observation may be accurate."

"'Maybe?'" I repeated. "I'd say it kind of is accurate."

"Analysis: It would appear this facilities functions are what the Goliath Class enemy would be protecting."

"Wait, are you saying you had no idea what this place was being used for beforehand?"

"Affirmative."

"You and your companion...11B was it? You guys just both went in here willingly blind despite all of the unknowns?"

"Affirmative. All Machine Life Forms must be eliminated to secure the planet. This in turn would ensure humanity's continued survival."

"You say that like humanity's almost extinct."

"Affirmative."

…

...that...was...

"Wait...what...? That's...you're joking."

"Negative. This unit is not programmed for humor. All remaining humans have migrated to the moon."

I remember 106 saying that last part when I met it, but...I didn't really take that into consideration. I was too busy figiuring out where I was and how to get out of here, I kind of forgot our conversation when I first found 106. But...wait...if humans migrated to the moon...there's no way that would have happened overnight...do I even dare ask...?

"When...when did this happen?"

"Query not understood. Please specify."

"When did...I dunno, this war, the machine war, when did this all start?"

There was a long moment of silence.

"Uhh…hello? Earth to 106? Aren't you going to answer?"

"Negative."

…

"What?"

"Repeat: Negative."

"I heard what you said, what I want to know is why you said it."

"Response: The information pertaning to Sam King's query may be misunderstood and possibly denied. Therefore, this unit would become a biased source of information. Sam King has previously expressed skepticism at the mention of extra terrestrial lifeforms invading the Earth. Query: Would Sam King be inclined to believe any further information disclosed from this unit with out cross referencing information from a separate individual or party?"

I had to take a moment to consider what 106 was saying. It's true I was skeptical about the whole alien invasion thing, and even after seeing the wreckage of these "Machine Lifeforms," that still didn't mean anything to me. Anyone could have built these. Just like with what I thought about 106, maybe they were built by some underground company that I never heard of. The idea isn't far fetch. Lots of private projects, both military and scientific happened behind closed doors; away from the public's attention.

But then again, from how monotonous and mater-of-fact 106 was speaking, it didn't _seem_ like 106 was lying to me. But then again, in the words of Gamma from Red Vs Blue, "they can if they are programed to." However 106 was just withholding information from me, so I guess technically that's not lying. Still.

I sighed. "Fine, but the second we get to the resistance camp and make contact with your buddies, I want answers. I don't care what it is, I just want to go home."

"…Affirmative."

Once more I continued to walk. Outside of the storage room, I may as well have walked into a friggin blast furnace. The room was made entirely out of scaffoldings over a massive pond of molten lava. I was guessing this was some sort of cauldron, possibly used for smelting parts to build the Machines. I'm no engineer, but I've watched enough sci-if movies to gain a general knowledge.

I may have said things like "I prefer the desert over the tundra," and I do, but that place was a little too hot for me. Thankfully, I wasn't in there for long. The next room I entered was probably the third larg cylindrical room that I've been through in this factory, and just like all the others, it had no lights on, and it was littered with busted Machines.

"A-a-a-nnnndrooooooid..."

A really creepy sounding monotonus voice startle the living shit out of me.

"Alert: Holstile detected. One Machine Life Form remains active. Recomendation: Prepare to engage."

"Fuck!" I shout, cursing my really shity luck. "What kind is it? Small and stubby or big and bulky?" I was really hoping it was the former.

"Unknown. In this unit's current condition, only scanning for active Machine Cores is possible. Enemy identification outside of this unit's line of sight is not possible.

"Well there's no way I'm gonna turn my back on a threat." Even if 106 could provide cover fire behind me, I'd much rather face an unknown force with my eyes forward. No matter how dark the room was. So I readied the red katana in front of me.

A pair of red eyes beady glinted in the darkness. A light sound of metal pitter-pattering on the floor could be heard, and out of the shadows came…a small, rusty, stubby, humanoid looking Machine.. It looked like the majority of the Machines I saw destroyed earlier, the only differences were that this one's eyes were glowing, and it was in one price. It kept its eyes fixed on me as it continued to waddle towards me ever so slowly. It was…honestly kind of cute.

"Aaaaannnndrrrroiiid…k-k-kiiilll…"

Or at least it would be, if it weren't A; trying to kill me, and B; speaking in that really creepy high-pitched monotone voice.

"Alert," 106 spoke. "Audio sensors indicate that the Machine Life Form has demonstrated vocal speech. Requesting confirmation."

Confirmation? "Uh, yeah, it did. Why, do the normally not do that?"

"Negative. Machine Life Forms have never demonstrated any form of intelligence before. Hypothesis: Through continued fights against the YoRHa units, Machine Life Forms may be adapting to form their own sort of intelligence."

"Kill…kill…kill…"

"It keeps saying the same thing over and over again. I wouldn't call that 'intelligence.'"

"Primordial though it may be, a Machine Life Form capable of learning bears some concern."

106's point was valid. Ever since Terminator came out, mankind had always feared that Skynet, or something similar to it, would be created and then destroy us in the future. A machine that could learn from mankind was a gigantic X-factor. I always found those fears to be founded on baseless conjecture and overall very far fetched. If technology actually progresses at the rate that most Sci-Fi movies depicted, I'm pretty sure that would have already happed. Granted, considering my current situation, and based on what 106 had told me it was the creations made by "aliens" that were doing this. If any of what 106 said was true, the irony would be so hilarious it would hurt.

But I'm a guy that doesn't focus on "what-ifs." I focus on what is. And what was at this second; a rusty piece of scrap metal that was looking to kill me. Be that as it may, I really didn't feel threatened.

"Well, as long as it's just one," I muttered. I lowered the sword to my side and just casually walked towards the Machine. As I approached, its eyes flashed and raised a stubby arm up in the air and brought it down towards me. It was very slow in doing so, and pretty obvious too. So I simply sidestepped out of the way, lifted my sword and swung it down. The sword cut through its arm like a hot knife through butter. This was a genuine sword crafted for combat; definitely not like the makeshift katanta I got from Otakon a few years back. One or two strikes and it would have been scrapped. Just like how I was about to scrap this wind-up toy.

"Haah!" I shouted, swinging my sword in a horizontal path this time, leaving a gash on the side of the Machine.

"Ow," the Machine muttered, as it staggered and fell on its side.

"How in the hell was I ever afraid of doing this?" I asked aloud. If this was seriously what I could expect from creations built by life beyond the stars, I had to wonder about mankind's competence. There's no way something like _this_ could have forced them to the moon. More and more I was starting to discredit 106's story.

"Proposal: Destroy the Machine Life Form's Machine Core," 106 said.

"Machine Core? What's that?"

"Response: A Machine Core is the main energy supplier for all Machine Life Forms. Similar in structure to a plant cell, a Machine Core is responsible for all the functions of a Machine Life Form, much like the human heart supplies blood through the body. They are typically stored in the torso region."

"So if I destroy that, then this thing joins the scrap heap like the rest?"

"Affirmative,"

"Easy enough, considering what I'm up against." I flipped my sword in revers grip and held it in the air. "Say hello to robot Satan for me," I said as I plunged the blade into the Machine's torso. I heard a loud glass shattering sound, and the Machine's body started to crackle with electricity and spaz a little.

"You…not…Annndroooid…" it said. "H-h-humannnnn…scaaaaarrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy…" those were its last words before its eyes flickered out. The Machine lay motionless on the ground.

"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed," 106 said.

I sighed. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. I mean, here I was in a place that most people my age would kill to be in: Fighting robots. Well…I guess robot zombies would be more accurate. Part of me was expecting something more epic and intense. But this? This was just sad. Then again, I guess I couldn't really complain. As long as I still had all of my limbs attached to my body and alive, I was thankful.

"Alert: Six hostiles detected."

"What?! I thought you said there was only one!"

"Affirmative. However, the destruction of the previous Machine has revealed the presence of others. Hypothesis: The Machine was masking the signals of other hostiles."

"You gotta be shitting me! Where are they?!"

"Descending from above."

"What?!" I looked up just in time to see another machine crash down on the ground in front of me. The sudden impact caused me to stagger backwards and fall flat on my butt. The Machine in front of me this time was different. It had the same head and torso as the small one, but it's arms and legs were a little bulkier and had proper elbow and knee joints, making it significantly taller than the last one I destroyed. It was holding a rusty serrated sword that looked like it was just made by welding a bunch of scrap iron together. Flanking it were two other machines that I hadn't seen dead bodies of before. Again, their heads and torsos were the same, but they had no arms or legs. Their entire bottom half was made up of some kind of circular hovercraft that was allowing them to fly. Mounted on the front of the crafts were small cannons of sorts.

I heard another crash behind me. I turned around and saw the other three hostiles. Exactly the same build as the first three, except this taller Machine was holding a scrap metal axe instead of a sword.

"Yyyooooouuuuu…not…Aaaaannndrroooooooid…" the Machine with the axe said.

"Human…human here…human alive…" one of the hovering Machines spoke.

"Human…kill friend…scary…why…?" Asked another hoverer.

"U-uh…" I wanted to answer, but I couldn't. The words…I couldn't figure out how to speak. The fight or flight function in my brain was stuck in nutral. The fear factor was really starting to settle in now. I was surrounded on both sides, out numbered, out gunned…and maybe out matched, I dunno. The joints of the two larger Machines definitely meant that they had more mobility than the stubby one I wrecked, but I wasn't exactly light on my feet either. Hell, I barely exercise at all! What the hell was I supposed to do?! Run?! Fight?! Curl up into a ball on the floor and just hope that all of this is a bad dream?!

"Human…danger…kill…kill…"

"Kill…kill…kill…kill…"

"ENOUGH!" The tall Machine with the sword suddenly shouted. "Are you fools blind?! We have a rare specimen on our hands! A living fossil from an age lost! We should study it! Not destroy it!"

…

"Uhhhh…" was once again all I could say.

"Alert:" 106 spoke. "A Machine Life For has displayed intelligence equivalent to that of a human. Caution is suggested."

" _No shit,"_ I thought.

"Stuuuudyyyy…?" the Axe Machine said.

"Yes! Study!" replied the Sword Machine. "Analyze! Learn! Dissect!"

WHAT?!

"Think of all of the information we could obtain from this creature! Adam and Eve would surely congratulate us! Reward us even!"

"Hey, whoa, _whoa_ there pal!" I shouted, now starting to feel slightly offended at being treated like some kind of object. "I'm not interested in becoming _anyone's_ lab rat!"

"Ah!" the Sword Machine exclaimed, turning to look at me. "It speaks! Intelligence! Excellent! The knowledge that this human possesses could be indispensible to Adam and Eve! To the Machine Network, even! We must capture it!"

"Quit calling me 'it!'" I shouted, getting increasingly angry now. "I am not an 'it,' I have a name! Sam King! First name: Sam! Last Name: King!"

"A first name, signifying the identification of an individual and a last name, signifying the name of the family in which the individual belongs to! Splendid! I have read about such customs that the humans practice, specifically the nation of humans called 'America!' But to actually find one here on Earth that still practices those customs…come to think of it, why aren't you on the moon, boy? I was led to believe all remaining humans had allegedly escaped there."

"Dude, I didn't even know the rest of humanity was supposed to be _on_ the moon," I protested. "I went to sleep in my bed last night, and the next thing I know when I wake up, I'm here in this dump, my bed thrown into a pile of splinters, and learned from friggin' Claptrap on my back here, that there's some kind of war going on, and humanity is nearly extinct! Exactly how, when, and why this happened overnight, I dunno, I can't get this thing to say anything else until we get to this…Resistance Camp, or whatever the hell it is. And…wait…what do you mean 'allegedly?'"

The Sword Machine just stared at me after I ranted. "Hmm. That's…odd. Tell me what do you remember before your slumber?" 

"I remember I was exhausted after another day of college and a ridiculous amount of studying and homework," I said. "Why?"

"College…a higher educational institution for young adults seeking a career in the work force," the Sword Machine mumbled. "What was the year in which you recall?"

"2018."

"…Interesting…in any case, I must ask that you come with us. There is much both you and I have to learn about each other. All of your questions will be answered when we report back to Adam and Eve."

"Fuck that," I replied holding my sword in front of me. "I already told you, rust bucket. I'm not interested in becoming a lab rat!"

The Sword Machine sighed. "Suite yourself. I was hoping to avoid this, but I suppose I should have expected it. I did read that humans were quite stubborn after all. My friends, engage the human, but do not kill it. Cut off a limb or two if you must, but leave the head attached to the body."

"Alert: The Machine Life Form's intent has been deemed as hazardous to Sam. Engaging."

I looked behind my back to see 106 open fire with some kind of energy bullets on the Axe Machine. It was rapid fire and it hit the Axe Machine square in the face.

"Ow," the Axe Machine muttered while covering its face.

"Huh," I said, pretty impressed. "Well that helps." But I didn't have time to be too impressed. I heard footsteps in front of me coming fast. I turned just in time to see ole' Swordy Scientist McNutso & Bolts jump at me with its blade in the air and coming down on me. I barely had enough time to level my sword in front of me horizontally in the only defensive stance I knew at the time.

But when Sword Machine's blade came down, the impact was stronger than I anticipated. The force of the strike made me stagger backwards, nearly making me drop my sword. Sword Machine came at me again, and fearing getting cut into pieces, I played defense once again. But this time I was ready for the strike, and put more force into pushing back the strike. Our blades locked, each seeking to gain the upper hand.

But…

"Alert: Tall Machine bearing Axe closing in at six o'clock."

"Keep him off me, I'm busy!"

"Affirmative. Activating Beam."

"Acticating wh-"

BWEEEEM!

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

106 released a blast of energy, which unfortunately rocketed me forward several feet. Good news is that it caught the Sword Machine off guard, and pushed him over on to the ground. Of course I did end up falling flat on my face.

"OOOWW!" I shouted as I got up on my knees and rubbed my face. "A little warning before you do that next time?!"

"Affirmative. Alert: In-"

"No, no! Not right now!"

"Negative. Beam function recharging. Alert: Incoming enemy fire."

"Wh-SHIT!"

I ducked quickly to dodge a massive light purple sphere. I looked up to see a bunch more coming at me in rapid succession. They were being fired by the Hovering Machines.

"What th-BULLET HELL?! Seriously?! What the actual fuck?!" I scrambled to my feet to get out of the line of fire.

"Proposal: Destroy the ranged fighters first."

"That's not going to be easy with them shitting bullets like this! OH FUCK!"

Axe Machine had gotten back up for another round. It rushed at me, raising its axe in the air. There was no way I was going to be able to block against that. So I did something I thought I couldn't do. Maybe it was the adrenaline doing the work. I ran towards the Axe Machine and then dropped down into a forward somersault, moving between the Machine's legs just as its axe slammed into the ground. Wasting no time, I took the opportunity to plunge my sword into the Axe Machine's back.

"Gotcha!" I shouted as a loud "CRACK" sound was heard from in side the machine. I quickly pulled it out, and the Axe Machine collapsed on to the ground.

"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed," said 106.

"Typical," said Sword Machine. "The Weakling is the first to fall, followed by the Oaf. But your stance and movements show that you lack combat experience."

"Hey, I'm a student, not a soldier," I replied. "Look, all I wanna do is just go home, drink a TON of hard cider, black out, and then wake up the next day to forget ANY of this shit ever happened, okay? I'm really not enjoying this whole fight for my life thing."

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to return to the moon, boy," Sword Machine said.

"Except I'm _not_ from the effing moon! I'm from the effing United States of America! I'm a senior in college! Whatever kind of 'war' is going on in whatever part of the world I'm in, I'm _not_ part of hit! I don't _want_ any part of it, so if you'll excuse me, I'm outta here!" After that rant, I ran towards the exit. Specifically the door I was headed for before all this nutty stuff started. Except…

Clank.

"What the…it's locked?!"

"Analysis: Machine Life Forms are emitting a jamming frequency that is interfering with this door's functions."

"Oh come on! That's bullshit!"

"This unit would like to remind Sam that the destruction of the small Machine Life Form revealed the location of six more hostiles. Said Machine Life Form was emitting a similar frequency to mask the presence of the other Machines."

"Seriously? They can do that?!"

"Affirmative."

"Now do you understand?" the Sword Machine said. "You either leave here in our custody in peace or in pieces. This is as stressful for me as it is for you."

"Stressful?!" I shouted. This guy was really starting to piss me off. He wasn't the one who got thrown into a batshit insane situation. "Ooooooohoho, buddy I am about to work out five years of personal issues and inhibitions on you and your cronies! RRRAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

I yelled as I charged at him with my sword scrapping on the ground. I was furious now. If I was going to have to fight for my life, then I was going to fight tooth and nail. If I was going to either die as a lab experiment of some kind or in a fight, I'd at least like to have some control of how I'm going to die.

Sword Machine charged at me raising its blade in the air again. But I wasn't going for him. I ducked and spun out of range from his swing, but not without leaving a retort. As I ran past him I left a gash on his right side. Sword Machine yelled in pain as I left him behind.

"106, I'm going after two of the Hovering Shooters. Cover me if Swordy and the other two Shooters start getting clever."

"Affirmative. Proposal: Deflect any shots fired with your sword. Warning: Shots with a darker hue cannot be deflected."

"So slash my way through," I replied. "Got it."

The Hoverers started to fire at me once I got in their sights. Once again a ridiculous amount of light purple spheres were headed right towards me. But this time I wasn't just going to run around trying to find some place to hide. I turned my attention to the hostile on the left and went for it. I swung my sword at the first bullet I saw. Sure enough, it dispersed in a small purple mist. But I didn't have time to be awestruck. The next shot was headed right for me. So I just swung at the next one.

And the next.

And the next.

And the next.

Until I had made myself a path to the Hoverer. It was hovering higher than I was standing, but not high enough to where I couldn't jump up and grab onto the front of it. I jumped as hard as I could and grabbed the edge of the Hoverer's craft. It started tilt forward due to the extra weight. I didn't have a lot of upper body strength, so getting on top of this thing wouldn't be easy with one arm. So I tried put my other arm on the edge to pull myself up.

"Alert: Incoming enemy fire. Proceeding to return fire."

I looked over my shoulder to see 106 open fire on the other Hoverer, shooting down its bullets with its own bullets.

"Well, good to know that works too," I said as I continued to pull myself up. The Hoverer started to jerk around a bit, trying to throw me off. I tightened the muscles in my arms, weak as they were, and tried my absolute best to hold on to dear life. Thank God I didn't get motion sick. But if this was the ordeal I had to go through to take down a single Hoverer, this fight would take a while.

Wait a minute…

"106, is that Beam attack of yours fully charged yet?" I asked as I continued to struggle to get on.

"Affirmative."

"Good." I heaved myself with all the strength I had and hoisted myself onto the Hoverer. "When I give the signal, I want you to fire it."

"Query: What is Sam's plan?"

"Trust me, okay?"

"Negative. Trust is a human concept in the belief of a reality, truth, ability or-"

"Look, you said that…protocol whatever thing gave priority to my safety over all else, right?"

"Affirmative."

"Then just go with the fact that I have a plan of sorts and follow my lead if you still want to get me out of this mess alive. Understand?"

"…Affirmative."

"Good. Okay, get ready!" I finally managed to get my footing leveled, turned to the Hoverer's main torso. It looked at me with those beady yellow eyes. Its gun wasn't able to maneuver without the aid of the craft, so it had no way of getting me off. Aside from trying to shake me off that is, which it was still trying to do. But it was moving slowly, clearly not capable of going the speed of a fighter jet.

Seeing my chance, I raised my sword into the air and plunged it down into the head of the Hoverer. "You're grounded!" The craft started to lose altitude.

"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed."

I pulled my sword out and quickly turned around to face the other Hoverer. I prepared to jump.

"106, now!"

"Affirmative."

I jumped and as soon as I did.

BWEEEEEEEEEM!

106 fired its beam, propelling me through the air in mid jump. The force nearly made me loose concentration, but I was mostly prepared for it to happen. The Hoverer started to fire at me, but my trajectory was too fast for them.

"You're next!" I shouted. I swung my sword down as I descended. Something that I'd only seen done in anime and video games; it was stupid and reckless. Yet…

"YYYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

As my sword made contact with its head the force of my decent carried the blade through its structure like a hot knife through butter. The Hoverer split in half, and I fell in between the halves.

"Destruction of Machine Core confirmed.

Okay, so good news, I had cut down the Machine Life Forms in half.

Bad news…I didn't stick the landing.

As soon as I hit the ground I stumbled, and then I felt a sharp pain in my left foot.

I just twisted my ankle.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH, FUCK!" I yelled as I fell forward on the ground. I grabbed my ankle in pain.

"Alert: Muscular strain detected in Sam's left ankle."

"You don't say!" I shouted sarcastically. Two small explosions rang on both sides of where I was lying. I looked up and saw the remaining two Hoverers floating above me with their guns aimed at me. And that wasn't even the worst part.

"Alert: Hostile closing in at 6 o'clock."

"Shit!"

I rolled over on my back and saw Sword Machine just a few steps in front of me, raising its sword. I barely had enough time to raise my sword in defense with both hands. Our swords clashed once again.

"You stubborn fool!" Sword Machine shouted. "This would have been much easier if you had just cooperated!"

"I've said it once, I've said it twice, and I'm going keep saying it, until it sticks!" I shouted back. "I'M NOT INTERESTED IN BEING SOME FUCKING SCIENCE PROJECT!"

"And I told _you_ ," Sword Machine replied. "You either leave in our custody peacefully…" It then managed to hook its sword under my sword and ripped it out of my hands. The sword fell over a few feet on my right with a clatter.

"Or in pieces."

SLICE.

The next 3 seconds were a big blank. But when I came to…all feeling in my right arm was gone. What just happened? Did it fall asleep? Sword Machine was standing over me with its blade down on my right. What was it doing? I remember it disarmed me, and then…

No…

Oh God, please no…

Dreading what I would see, I turned to my right…

And saw my severed right arm…

And a pool of my own blood oozing onto the floor.

It was then that my brain registered the pain.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It hurt worse than anything I had ever felt. I had just lost a part of my own fucking body!

"A crippled foot and a severed arm," I faintly heard Sword Machine say. "There's no possible way for you to resist now. It's a shame really. To damage such a pure specimen as yourself. But I suppose there are some variables in this world that one cannot control. Such are the many unknowns of existence itself."

"Why…why…are…you…doing this…?" I said through tears, pained grunts, and stuttered breaths. The blood loss was starting to get to me.

"To learn about you, my boy," Sword Machine replied. "About humans. Interesting that you excrete the same red liquid that the Androids do when they are injured. Blood I believe it's called."

The Androids…bleed…like us…?

"Although a bit messy, and costing two of my comrades, I'd say this is a worth wile catch. Besides, it's not like they'll die, as long as they backed themselves up to the network."

Son of a…they can make backups of themselves…?

"Alright then enough rambling. You two, cauterize the wound. Unlike Androids, if a human looses too much blood, their hearts could cease to function and then they would die. Use the heat generated from your guns to sear the wound shut."

No…no more pain…just kill me already…

"We'll take him back to Adam and Eve and see what they can find out about it. If it survives the trip, then an interrogation could provide us with more information. If not, well it's not ideal, but we can still extract the brain and-"

BWEEEEEM!

BWEEEEEM!

I saw two bright beams of energy fly across the room and struck down the remaining two Hoverers. They both flew into the wall and I heard them explode.

"What?!" Sword Machine shouted, clearly not expecting that. "Who dares to-HUGK!"

A massive sword suddenly sliced down Sword Machine through the middle.

"Y-You're…YoRHa…" I heard him say though his already failing voice box. "But…how…how did you…find us…we were supposed…to be masked…"

"You weren't what we were looking for," I heard a medium low female voice answered.

Sword Machine then split in half, both sides falling to the ground. Now in my fading vision I saw two people…a boy and a girl…both wielding swords…and two more floating boxes that looked like 106…they looked like…young adults…

At this point my vision was going black. The last thing I remember before it failed entirely was asking aloud…

"Why are they blindfolded…?"

…

AN: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNN! I bet you didn't expect for shit to hit the fan this early in the story. I'd figured I'd have the loss of Sam's arm as a shock factor, amongst others, that would serve as a building element for Sam's character in the future.

I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter out. I have several other stories that I'm working on. That and I also have some video editing to get back to and several lines to record that I owe people. Top that with having my wisdom teeth removed and then getting a cold that borderlines a sinus infection has slowed me down quite a bit. I really wish I had better organizing skills.

But until then…STAY TUNED!

 **...**

Zero awoke to the sound of wind blowing through her ears.

Wait…this didn't seem right…

She was supposed to be dead…right?

She slowly opened her eyes…and saw herself plummeting towards a desert.

"What the sweet crispy fuck?!" she shouted.

She hit the sand hard, cursing the pain she felt upon impact. What the hell was going on?! She knew that Mikhail destroyed the flower when it was in full bloom, thus destroying her as the host, along with the only way her sisters could be reincarnated. Properly, that is.

But here she was, alive and well, stuck in the middle of the fucking desert again.

"Well…at least I'm familiar with my surroundings…"

Or at least she thought. When she looked around there were strange things around her. Crates of sorts. But they weren't like any kind of crates Zero had ever seen before. They looked like…brown sheets of paper…but they looked too sturdy to be just paper alone. There was also a grey stripe on their sides with writing on them.

Sam's DVDs & Blu-Rays.

Sam's Video Games.

Sam's Equipment.

They all had the name Sam on them. Did these strange crates belong to someone with that name? Now that she got a better look at her surroundings, this didn't look like the same desert she and her disciples had traversed. There were ruins around her, but they definitely didn't look like the same ruins that she had seen before. These looked…more organized…more sophisticated…oh Goddamnit did she get blown into another Branch?!

"Well holy shit," a husky female voice said. "Androids falling out of the sky, and not at the result of a Flight Suit crash."

Zero gave out an irritated grunt and summoned her sword. She sprang to her feet, whirled around and pointed her blade at the source of the voice.

The source was a mature looking woman dressed in a lot of rags. She threw her hands up in surrender. "Easy there, kiddo, I'm with the Resistance."

Zero arched her eyebrow in confusion. "The what?"

Now it was the woman's turn to arch her eyebrow. "Y'know, the Resistance. The guys that are partnered with YoRHa to fight against the Machines and reclaim the planet for humanity."

Zero's eyes widened. "What…?"

The woman looked at Zero up and down. "You seriously don't know? Where the hell have you been?"

"I'm supposed to be dead," Zero replied. "That's really all I know right now."

"Well, you definitely don't look dead," the woman replied. "Jackass."

Zero spluttered, clearly offended. "Excuse me?!"

"Not you, kiddo, me," the woman replied. "My name is Jackass."

…

"The fuck?"

…

VOICE CAST

Sam King – Andrew Hindle

Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci

2B – Kira Buckland

Jaque (Sword Machine) – Bryce Buckley

Zero – Tara Platt

Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller

Machine – Robbie Daymond

Ben Diskin

Bryce Papenbrook

Wendee Lee

Rena Strober

Lauren Landa


	3. Chapter 3

AN: This is going to be a LONG AN so if you wanna skip it go ahead. But for those of you who are curious to my plans on this story, you may want to read this.

First off, I'm glad to see that this story has been well liked. It always warms my heart to see that I'm doing something right to make you guys like it. So with that, I'd like to address a few questions and statements in the reviews that I believe should be explained.

Nerf585: Check the summary. The character mentions are in brackets.

Darkuz: When you throw an average character into a post apocalyptic world, I always think there needs to be a fear/shock factor…or cripple factor in this case I guess, that serves as a driving force for the character to get stronger. I mean, if Sam has any hope of getting home, he's GOING to have to find a way to get stronger somehow. I REALLY don't like Itadeki (In Another World) characters that can't fend for themselves and always cower behind someone else (like a love interest) or too over powered (i.e. Kenchi. Him AND that wussy attitude of his.)

Madame De Blanc: Zero's still gonna have her powers. Most of them. Since she's no longer serving as The Flower's host, she doesn't have abilities like regeneration or reattachment of limbs. Other powers like weapon summoning, as mentioned in in the previous chapter, Intoner Mode, Counter Burst, charged attack, and superhuman strength will stick around, but they're going to be toned down a bit. Let's just say being brought back from the brink of death via a rip in the time space continuum has some side effects. And trust me, Zero's not the only one from the Drakengard 3 that'll appear in this fic. Ditto NIER.

GVN Chaos: Oh don't you worry, the meeting of Zero and A2 will happen in the future. And when they start conversing on a personal level (which won't happen for a LONG time) I tend to make it interesting. However, with A2's introduction to this story…well, let's just say she won't be alone.

RaphiTheOne: First off, do you really expect the Machines to piece that together when information about the old world is EXTREMLY scarce? Second, as one of the best students of my Biology class in 2012, I know for a fact that you can survive the blood loss from a severed arm. Granted, the deciding factors are how healthy of a body you have, how strong your immune system is, and how much Vitamin D your blood has, along with other variables, the fact remains that it's still possible. Still, too much blood loss and you can die, that much is true. That's part of the reason why I left Chapter 2 off with a cliffhanger, to let the realism of both possibilities sink into the readers' minds. As for blood transfusion, yeah that's very unlikely in this world. However the human body does have a very uncanny ability of generating more blood as long as the heart is in good shape. Sam would just need a lot of orange juice. And a ton of other stuff to strengthen his immune system after that ordeal.

On another note, I have recently finished playing NIER, the first installment that preceded to NieR: Automata, which, btw, those of you who DID know about its existence and HAVE played it BEFORE Automata was even conceived (not me), then give yourself a medal, for you are an explorer of the EXTREMELY underrated. Seriously the game deserves way more attention, same with the Drakengard games.

But I digress, the reason I'm bringing this up is because I am having this fic be post ending E for NIER. And yes NIER technically _does_ have a fifth ending, but it's not in the game, at least not in the States or European version of the game.

See, here's the thing about the first NIER game. It was originally released in Japan in two separate versions. NieR: RepliCant and NieR: Gestalt. RepliCant was a PS3 exclusive and Gestalt was for the Xbox 360. However, when the game made the jump to the west, we only got the Gestalt version, which was multiplatform for both Xbox 360 and PS3 in English and was retitled as NIER. The only differences in the two versions were Nier's design, his relationship to Yonnah; Ditto Shadowlord, and the time where the story takes place. In RepliCant, Nier is Yonna's older brother, but in Gestalt, he's her father (and a super badass one at that! I'm tempted to make a top ten fathers in video games list when Father's Day comes around). And while both versions do have the same four endings more or less, ending E does, sorta, kinda, stem from the RepliCant version.

Exactly why the RepliCant version never made it to the States, I'm not exactly sure. One reason could be that Square Enix of America didn't really see the point, nor had the budget to translate two entirely separate versions with minor differences (which is bullshit, because the whole father/brother thing is a pretty big difference in terms of character development, and I guess they didn't want to go through finding an alternate English VA for Brother Nier), or it could have been because of some licensing issues. I mean, this was back during a time when games from Japan took about a year to come to the states after their initial release in Japan, that that was _if_ a company's respective PR department in the states saw a market for it. A whole bunch a wasted opportunities back then.

For example, Drakengard's original name in Japan was Drag On Dragoon. Not sure _why_ that change in title was necessary, but then again these legality issues always tend to fly over my head. And remember when we almost didn't get the first Xenoblade game? We had to wait TWO FUCKING YEARS until Nintendo of America FINALLY caved in to popular demand (although the whole Game Stop exclusive crap was total BS. You want a product to do well? Don't sell it exclusively. That's just bad marketing, and you're just making its value worth more than it actually is). Ditto The Last Story and Pandora's Tower. Thank God for Operation Rainfall. You guys rock!

Anyways, for those of you wondering, if you are, _why_ you weren't made aware of this until now, well that's what happens when you don't delve into the lore of any franchise in existence. Especially when a lot of their backstories are implied. Sometimes that works, other times that doesn't. Ending E isn't in either versions game stories, but it is in a novelized short story called "The Lost World" found in Grimoire Nier, a book published exclusively in Japan that gives further insight to both versions of NieR. This story can be found on the NieR wiki and in a Google document that is linked on the page about Grimoire Nier. However it should be noted that its English translation on both pages are incomplete summaries from Chinese forums and blogs, and a full translation has yet to be made. It should also be noted that, while continuing from ending D, it is unknown if ending E refers to Brother Nier or Father Nier. Brother is more than likely implied, but it's very ambiguous. Regardless, I'm going with the version that I know, which is Father Nier.

Despite the fact that ending D is the cannon ending to NIER, there have been a few discussions on how ending E _can_ tie into NieR: Automata. So as long as it's possible, I'll take it.

Jesus CHRIST, whoopin' 2+ pages of AN boredom! Well now that I've got that drivel out of the way, let's get on with it shall we? Oh, just a heads up:

 **SPOLER WARNING!**

Okay, now…NEEEEEEEXT!

 **Chapter 3**

 **I Get The Feeling A Storm Is Coming…**

Pain. Sharp, searing pain. That's what I remember feeling when I woke up next.

Inhaling sharply, I cursed as I clutched the area where the pain was…and found that my right arm was missing.

Wait…what?

I slowly turned to my right to find that my right arm was indeed missing. And there were white bandages all over where it used to be. But…why was…

…

Oh…

Oh God, no…

Please, please, PLEASE do NOT tell me that the shit that I went through actually happened! Where the hell was I?! Did I get captured by that fucking insane Sword Machine?!

Pure fear fueling me, I was wide awake now. I quickly looked at my surroundings. I was in a room that had seen better days. There were four walls each of them grey with faded and cracked plaster. I was on a bed that had an okay matress, considering the room I was in. There was a brown worn sofa across from me and a small two story bookshelf next to that. There were some books on there but not a whole lot, and they looked pretty old. There was an old wooden coffee table in the middle that had a lot of dents and nicks in it. There was a single light bulb in a socket on the ceiling with a pull string switch. There was a doorway in the wall adjacent to the sofa. The door was made of dark brown and worn wood with a bronze colored door nob that had lost its shine for what seemed like decades ago.

A door…

A DOOR!

As soon as my brain was able to register that, I quickly scrambled to throw the sheets off of me and get up on my feet…with less than success.

I hadn't even taken a step when I collapsed face first on the floor.

WHAM!

"Ow, fuck!"

I had completely forgotten that I had twisted my ankle. It still hurt pretty badly. And my body felt extremely weak. Weaker than I had ever felt before. The loss of one of my limbs was something I was not used to. And it still hurt. A lot. But I couldn't let that stop me. I needed to get out. I needed to know where I was, and if possible, escape.

Struggling with what little strength I had, I used both my feet and my one remaining arm to lift me back up, trying not to put too much strain on my ankle. How the hell was I ever going to explain this to my family? If I ever saw them again…

I then noticed that I was wearing nothing but the same sweat pants that I went to bed in before I woke up in this hell hole. My white t-shirt was gone leaving my torso completely exposed, and my socks were gone too. My ankle was also wrapped in some gauze, but it wasn't as dense as the stuff on my right arm socket. Even though it still may have been twisted, the upside was at least my feet weren't sore anymore. Walking around on that factory's iron and concrete floors was a trial.

I slowly limped over to the door and reached for the knob. But I guess someone must have heard me curse, because before I could even grasp the knob, it turned and the door opened. Standing before me was a boy that looked to be about a year or two younger than me, with pure white hair, a black buttoned up coat and black shorts complete with same colored boots and gloves. I couldn't really make out his face because he had a black blindfold over his eyes.

…wait, didn't I see this guy somewhere before?

"Oh," the boy said. "You're awa-oof!"

Fuck it, I didn't care about who this guy was, I wanted to get out! I shoved the boy aside, seeing this as my chance to get out. I didn't care where this place was or how I got here, I was NOT going to stick around and risk losing my other arm!

"Urgh!"

Immediately I was starting to realize this may not have been a good idea. With my ankle in the shape it was in, escape was not going to be easy. But it was either that or stick around and let whatever they were going to do to me happen.

Apparently I was in an apartment of sorts, because I saw a lot of other doors that looked like the same one I just ran out of. And true to my shitty luck streak so far, I was on the second floor. Perfect.

Stairs.

I needed to find some stairs. Getting down them with a busted ankle would be a bitch, but I was going to have to do it one way or another.

"Anemone!" I heard the boy call to someone behind my back. "The guy's awake, but I think he's trying to run!"

Oh FUCK, they _did_ capture me, didn't they?! Forget my arm and ankle, if they were going to do experiments like Sword Machine was going to, there was no goddamn way I was sticking around!

I finally found some rusty stairs and made my way down as fast as I could. Unfortunately, I think I might have been going a little too fast, because as soon as I reached the third step, a sharp pain entered my ankle. I shouted in slight agony, loosing my balance in the process, and fell forward. Thankfully the stars weren't very high. But I still ended getting a face full of dirt. And it hurt like a bitch.

"AUGH, FUCKING CHRIST! AAAGH!"

My face was wracked with pain from the impact. I tried to ignore it as best as I could and right myself up. That last curse drew attention to me, if that boy yelling off in the distance didn't already. A whole bunch of people of different shapes and sizes, all wearing drabbed garb that looked like they hadn't been washed in ages, turned around to look at me. I didn't really pay them any mind.

"Hey wait!"

Mostly because I was too busy trying and failing to run from that one boy, and anyone else who might join in on the chase. I quickly got up on my legs and started running again as fast as I was able to.

"Wait! I just want to talk!"

"Fuck you, I'm-rgh-I'm not letting you dissect me!"

As I continued to limp/run, I caught bits and pieces of what people were saying about the whole chase thing. Specifically me.

"Who's that kid?"

"He looks like he just got dragged of a pretty bad spot."

"Where's his other arm?"

"Maybe he needs to repair it?"

"His foot probably needs some spare parts too."

"Wait…isn't that the Android the two YoRHa Units brought with them a while ago?"

A while? Oh God, how long have I been out?! My parents must be flipping their SHIT right about now! I've gotta call…and of fucking course I left my phone on my desk! Son of a BITCH! If that ended up anything like my bed back at the factory, then wherever it was now, it was more than likely destroyed.

Okay, focus…I gotta get out of this place. Maybe I can find this Resistance camp and get into contact with…wait…didn't one of the bystanders already mention Your…aw, SHIT! What happened 106?! What happened to my sword?!

"106!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, continuing to hoof it. "106! Where are you?! I need help!"

It was in vain. If 106 was still around, or hell, functional even, my plea fell upon deaf ears. That or it just wasn't getting here fast enough.

"Hey!" A woman in front of me called out. "Stop!" She held out her arm and grabbed for me. She succeeded, but only for a moment.

"Get off!" I yelled. I punched her in the gut with my remaining arm as hard as I could. I wasn't expecting to make contact with something that felt like titanium however. "Augh! What the fuck?!" But at least it caused the woman to loose her grip on me. I rubbed my left fist against my sweat pants, almost forgetting that I no longer had a right arm to cuddle the pain. This was going to make clapping a real bitch.

Eventually, I managed to find an alleyway that led out into the open. That was my exit. No turning back now. I ran through the alleyway and into the clearing. Unfortunately, someone was there at the other end. I couldn't tell who it was, they came from behind and grabbed my left arm, twisting it behind me.

"Let me go!" I shouted frantically.

"Calm down, you little pansy wuss!" a medium low and rather raspy woman's voice spoke. "We're trying to help you! Just stay put until Jack-OW, FUCK!"

I couldn't use my arm this time, so instead I bashed her face with the back of my head. This time it felt like I collided with bone and muscle instead of some type of metal. It still hurt though.

I stumbled forward a few steps, rubbing the back of my head with my one remaining arm, muttering about how lucky I was not to have broken anything else between the ankle, the stairs, the titanium gut, and that woman's face. However, that pain I was feeling, immediately died away when I looked up.

The place I was in was completely unrecognizable. It looked like it was a city, but…it was completely destroyed. Building structures of all shapes and sizes had massive chunks missing, either crumbled, ripped out, or simply pushed aside by the gigantic plant life that was growing out of them. It looked like a scene out of a post-apocalyptic film. I never thought it was physically possible for trees to grow that big. Where was I? What the hell had happened to this place?

"Hey!" It was the voice of that boy again. They caught up to me. Quick, think! Do I continue running or…I noticed a small Machine Life Form waddling around a pond nearby…okay, maybe running wasn't a good choice. I did not want to come into contact one of those things again anytime soon. But I also didn't want to stick around here.

It was then that I noticed an iron pipe lying next to my right foot. As I looked at it I continued to hear footsteps behind me. Without even thinking, I bent down, picked up the pipe with my left hand, turned around and swung it as hard as I could…only for it to be caught in a single hand by another black blindfolded person. This time it was a girl.

"That's quite enough," she said in a very cold, emotionless voice. Then she proceeded bend the pipe with nothing but just her hand! How did she even do that?! Was she on steroids?! Hell, how did she even know where I was swinging the pipe, SHE'S FUCKING BLINDFOLDED!

The girl then yanked the pike out of my hand and tossed it aside. After that she forced me to the ground flat on my back.

"Jackass. Quickly," she said to someone behind her.

"I got it," another woman's voice replied.

The woman, apparently named…Jackass?...walked over to me with a syringe in her hand. I didn't know what was in it and I didn't want to know either. So I tried to struggle free. But the blind folded girl had an iron grip on me. I wasn't getting up.

"Hold still," she said to me. "Things will go much smoother if you do so, human."

That last word froze me in place.

"I…wai…wh-uh…!"

Goddamn it. That syringe that "Jackass" lady was holding was a fucking tranquilizer of all things! There goes my escape. The tranquilizer already doing its work, I found sleep's embrace crawling over me once again…but not before I heard "Jackass" mutter some sarcasm, starting with an exasperated sigh.

"Whitey's gonna _'love'_ this…"

…

 **Two Weeks Earlier**

YoRHa Unit 2B, having cleaved the Sword Equipped Medium Biped Machine in half thanks to the work of her Beastlord, looked at the Android that was now without a right arm. He had short messy brown hair and was wearing some very plain yet strange clothing. They weren't anything like the Resistance Androids wore, they looked way too clean. Or at least they would have, had they not been severely stained from the blood of his open socket.

" _Odd,"_ she thought. _"Androids don't usually bleed this much…and…his skin…it has quite a few blemishes…wait…is…is he turning pale…?"_

Her long time companion, YoRHa Unit 9S, was looking at the boy with a look on his face that was a mix between curious and concern. "What's a Resistance Android doing all the way out here?" He wondered out loud. "Wait…is…is that a t-shirt?! Where did he get that?! It looks brand…new…ish…?" His thought process trailed off as he remembered the blood stains.

"9S," 2B spoke to the Scanner. "Focus. We need to locate the source of the spatial anomaly."

"Reactivation complete," a monotone female voice spoke all of a sudden.

9S glanced at his Support Pod, 153. "I didn't realize you had shut down, Pod."

"Negative," 153 responded. "This unit has not been deactivated in the past 78 hours."

9S gave a rather confused look. "But…then what was…"

"Alert," spoke Pod 042, 2B's respective support Pod. "Signal detected. Tactical Support Unit 106 has been confirmed. Location: On the back of the fallen Resistance Android."

"106?" 2B asked. "That was 11B's Pod wasn't it?"

"Affirmative," the other female voice spoke. "This is YoRHa Tactical Support Pod 106. Request: Please state your designation."

"YoRHa Type 2 Battle Unit. Designation, 2B."

"YoRHa Type 9 Scanner Unit. Designation, 9S."

"Tactical Support Unit Pod 042. Assigned to 2B."

"Tactical Support Unit Pod 153. Assigned to 9S."

"Designations confirmed," 106 replied.

"106," 2B spoke. "Why are you partnered with a Resistance Android? This is a violation of Protocol 531."

"Negative," 106 answered. "This individual is neither with the Resistance or YoRHa. He is human."

Both 2B and 9S froze at this statement. A human? Here?

"As such," 106 continued. "Protocol 221 states all information pertaining to humanity must be preserved. This, by extension, includes any human survivors on the planet. Protocol 221 assumes priority over 531."

"This unit would like to express skepticism to Pod 106's claim," 153 spoke. "There are no records in the YoRHa database of any humans departing from the moon."

"Irrelevant," 042 countered. "Bio scan complete. Organic material confirmed. Human status verified. Warning: Vital signs minimal."

"What?" 9S asked. "What does that mean?"

"9S, quick, get his pulse!" 2B exclaimed.

"O-Okay!" 9S was startled a bit at 2B's sudden outburst, but he knew that Protocol 221 was a pretty big deal, so he wasted no time in following procedure. He quickly knelt down to the human and placed his thumb beneath his remaining palm. Sure enough, there was a pulse.

"Incredible!" 9S exclaimed. "He…he really is a human! But…why is he here in the first place?"

"9S! Focus!" 2B demanded.

9S froze a bit. "S-sorry…Um…well…he's got a pulse, but…it's pretty faint…"

"Affirmative," 106 replied. "Blood loss in large quantities are fatal to humans. If this continues, Sam will go into cardiac arrest."

"Sam?" 9S asked. "Is that this guy's name?"

"Affirmative."

"What do you mean by 'cardiac arrest?'" 2B asked.

"Sam's heart will cease to function," 106 replied. "And he will die."

There was a moment of silence; both Androids and Pods were taking this reality into their minds. The first human that any of them had ever met…and he was already on death's door.

"Okay, u-ummmm…what can we do?" 9S stated. He had done some research on human customs and traditions, but human physiology was something he wasn't well versed in. Same for 2B.

"Proposal," 153 spoke. "Stop the bleeding."

"How are we supposed to do that?" 2B asked.

"Proposal," 042 spoke. "Seal off the wound with a cloth-like material."

"Cloth?" 2B asked skeptically. "How's that going to help?"

"It is a common medical technique, typically referred to as 'First Aid,'" responded 042. "The fabric soaks the blood into the cloth, creating a clot, blocking the flow of the severed blood vessels, thus, preventing further blood from escaping. This procedure of First Aid was commonly referred to as 'Bandage.'"

"Cloth…wait, I've got it!" 9S quickly undid his visor and placed it on the human's, now identified as Sam, wound. He made sure that it covered the entire socket before tying it. For a moment it seemed to work. The blood was being absorbed, staining the visor a dark crimson. However, it wasn't enough. Droplets of blood were starting to seep through.

"Okay," a disconcerted 9S said. "I don't think this is working."

"The amount of bandage required depends greatly on the severity of the wound," 153 added.

"So in other words we need to place more cloth on the wound," 2B stated. She took off her visor then and added it on top of 9S's. But it still wasn't enough.

"Damn it," she cursed. What were they to do now? _"We need more cloth,"_ she thought, her mind slowly teetering on the verge of frantic. _"More…cloth…"_ She then found herself staring at her skirt. Without a second thought, she summoned Virtuous Contract, and immediately cut off her skirt at the waist.

"Tw-2B!" 9S shouted, failing to hide the blush that was creeping up on his face. "W-what the heck are you doing?!"

"Applying more bandages," replied 2B. "9S, contact your operator and tell her the situation. Get her to connect the Commander if you can."

"U-understood!" 9S exclaimed, using this as an excuse to turn away from 2B's exposed buttocks. "153, connect me to 21O."

"Affirmative."

A holographic screen appeared in front of 153, displaying that the call was being made. After a few rings, the connection was finally established. 21O appeared on the screen.

"21O here," she said in her usual business like tone. "Have you determined the cause of the spatial anomaly?"

"Ummm…well…that _might_ be part of the reason I'm calling," 9S answered, trying to figure out how to explain this…predicament.

21O sighed. "Am I to take that as 'no, you haven't?'"

9S froze up slightly at that. "Well…no…we didn't find the source per sé, but-"

"9S, the Commander's orders were to investigate the source _directly,_ not indirectly."

"21O, please, listen!" 9S exclaimed defensively. "We found a human!"

…

"9S, I'm neither have the time nor the patience for one of your jokes. Frankly, I'm half inclined to tell the Commander to restrict your access to the arch-"

"I'm being serious here!" 9S shouted. "153, did you record the data on the human's pulse?"

"Affirmative."

"Forward that to 21O right now."

The left of the screen displayed that a file was being sent to the recipient of the call. 21O glanced at a screen to her left and arched an eyebrow, confused. "9S, what exactly am I looking at here?"

"It's the human's pulse," 9S replied.

"Pulse? …wait…you mean…"

"Exactly! This guy's got an actual beating heart!"

21O's face for a moment showed a look of shock at what she just heard, followed by concern at what she was looking at. "It's…slower than I thought it would be…it's below 73 BPM."

"Um…yeah," 9S said. "He kinda…got his right arm cut off."

21O's eyes widened. "What?! How?!"

"Well, it looks like he got stuck in a fight with some Machine Life Forms. When we got to the entrance of the factory, we heard a pretty loud scream. So we ran to the door, and we found three Machines standing over what we originally though was a Resistance Android. 2B and I disposed of the Machines, and thankfully, it looks like we got here only a few seconds after the leader cut off the human's arm. 2B and I are working on bandaging the wound but…I don't think it's going to be enough. We need to get him some serious medical help. Like, take him to the Resistance camp or something. Popola and Devola would probably have more insight on this kind of thing than us."

21O pondered over this overwhelming information for a few seconds, until she made the only decision that made sense to her. "Standby, I'll connect you to the Commander."

"Wait, hold on! There's something else!" 9S quickly stated before the connection could close. "We also found 11B's pod, 106. It's with the human."

21O gave a quizzical look. "That's a direct violation of Protocol 531."

"Not if you're following 221, apparently," 9S answered.

"I see," replied 21O. "Did it happen to know the status of 11B?"

"Um, no, we didn't ask that," the Scanner admitted. "106?"

"…Acknowledged. Status of 11B unknown. Black Box signal not present in crash site. However, scanners did not indicate any trace of 11B's body. Hypothesis: 11B has either ceased to function, or is missing. Further analysis cannot be provided until this unit can receive proper maintenance."

"Understood," 21O replied. "I'll begin transferring you to the Commander now. She'll want to hear from both of you about this."

"Yes ma'am," both 2B and 9S replied.

The cut off for a few seconds before reappearing again showing the face of the YoRHa Commander, commonly referred to as Commander White.

"2B, 9S," the Commander spoke with that familiar composed tone.

"Commander," 2B and 9S acknowledged.

"Is the report that I just received from 21O one hundred percent accurate?" Commander White asked, rather incredulously. "You actually found a human on the surface?"

"Yes, Commander," 2B affirmed.

"That should be impossible. There have been no records of any humans departing from the moon."

"That doesn't matter right now," 9S said. "The human got into a fight with some machine life forms and he's seriously injured. If we don't get him treated soon, he could die real quick. If he lives, we can get his origin story from him directly."

"…Very well," the Commander replied after a bit of thought. "However, I still want the site of the Spatial Anomaly investigated. If the human is indeed related, we can learn more from him when he is fully treated. One of you will have to take the human back to the resistance camp, the other will investigate the source of the anomaly."

"I'll go," 2B responded immediately. "I can take the human back to the settlement. 9S can continue pursue the anomaly."

"Ummmm…" 9S had some reservations about this. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea, 2B. If you get ambushed by any Machines, you won't be able to fight them off with a crippled human in tow. And if you get spotted and try to run from them, you might end up leading them back the Resistance camp."

"Then I won't get spotted," 2B simply stated.

"But you're made for battle, not stealth," 9S argued. "That's more up my ally."

"But I'm also not suited for analyzing discrepancies in the fabric of time and space," 2B.

"But that kind of stuff was only theoretical until today," replied 9S. "I don't know if I can even make sense of whatever I find there."

"I'll never be able to make sense of any of it, 9S," 2B countered. "You may not be able to either, but I doubt that will stop you from trying. I've never seen you stop trying to solve anything that has piqued your curiosity." This last part was said with a…slight sad smile…in a memory of…other times…

This sight did not go unnoticed by the Commander. She knew full well what 2B was thinking about. "Then it's settled," she spoke, attempting to divert the conversation away from 2B's melancholy thoughts. "2B, take the human back to the Resistance camp. I'll contact Anemone and order her to clear out a room for him. Be discrete about this. Until we can figure out how this human came to the surface, I do not want word of this to get out to other Androids, YoRHa or Resistance. As of right now this operation is classified Level 5. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," 2B replied.

" _Level 5?"_ 9S thought. _"That's the same classification that YoRHa Deserters are under…same with the Council of Humanity…but…why go to such secrecy for just one human? Is he a member of the Coun…no that can't be right. He looks way to young."_

"Good," the Commander said. "Also, when you have the time, send 106 back to the Bunker for maintenance. I want a full debrief about the human's encounter with the Machines."

"Affirmative," 106 responded.

"9S," Commander White continued. "You are to continue to the site where the source of the spatial anomaly occurred. Report anything unusual you find, and if possible, find any leads to 11B's whereabouts while you're at it."

"Yes, Commander," 9S acknowledge.

"Good luck to you both." The Commander then raised her hand in salute. "Glory to Mankind."

2B and 9S mimicked her. "Glory to Mankind," the repeated in unison.

…

It had been about seven minutes since 2B departed the factory with the human on her back. She could still feel his heart beating, but it was getting slower by the minute. She only hoped she could get there before it was too late.

Thankfully, the Machines in the area were rather docile, most of them anyway. They usually didn't attack unless provoked. Still, 2B wasn't sure if they had the ability to tell the difference between an Android and a human. And if they could, she wasn't willing to take a risk on what might or might not happen. So she did her best to keep out of sight of any Machines she saw.

So far, so good.

Until she got a sudden call from the Commander. 2B was so concentrated to staying out of sight, the sudden ringing nearly made her loose her footing trying to stay hide under a collapsed bridge.

"Incoming call from the Commander," 042 stated.

Any call from the Commander was important, so stealth op or not, 2B was obligated to answer it.

"Patch it through," she said quietly.

The Commander's face appeared on the holographic screen within seconds. "2B here," the Battle Unit spoke. "What is it Commander? Is something wrong?"

"I want to confirm that you're not wavering from your duties," the Commander said.

"No," 2B replied. "So far I haven't had any Machine Life Form contact."

"That's not what I meant," the Commander said.

2B gave a rather confused look. "Commander?"

"I thought you of all people were aware that emotions are prohibited, especially for you."

That's when it hit 2B. She saw. Before she answered, she gave a sigh. "No…Commander…I'm not…I'm not wavering. I'm devoted to my duties to YoRHa."

There was a long pause before the Commander answered, as though she were processing the validity of 2B's response. "Very well," she said.

"Commander," 2B spoke again before the call could end. "I know I've asked this before, but…is it really that important…that no one, Resistance or our fellow YoRHa comrades ever find out of our origins, or the Council…?"

"You know better than to question authority," the Commander responded sternly. "Not even I am in a position to question that. I'm just following my duties as acting commander of YoRHa. We all have our duties. I expect you to always bear that in mind…2E…"

The call ended at that.

2B clenched her hands tighter on the human's legs as she gritted her teeth together. She absolutely _hated_ being called that. How many times upon performing her duties as an Executioner Unit had she wanted to scream her voice box out to the sky in rage, frustration, sorrow, and despair? What number did this time make?

She emerged from the bridge, continuing her hike to the Resistance camp. But she stopped once, and looked up at the sky.

Blue.

Endless.

And beautiful.

She absolutely loved it.

This planet, through all it had been, its beauty had not been marred.

But not even the sky in all its majesty could undo the pain she felt in her heart…or what ever would be the equivalent at least.

" _How much longer, God,"_ she thought to herself. _"How much longer will you curse me to live this lie…?"_

…

Commander White sighed heavily, placing a hand on her forehead, as though she were preparing for the worst headache of her life.

" _A human on the planet's surface,"_ she thought to herself. _"A LIVE human…how is this even possible…?"_ And then there was the spatial distortion. There was no way this was a coincidence. First a time/space anomaly, followed by a human? This made zero sense.

The Commander sighed once again before voicing her thoughts to herself.

"I get the feeling a storm is coming…"

…

AN: What in the hell is it with me and my affinity for long chapters?

…

Three awoke to a rather familiar feeling on her back.

Grass.

Lots and lots of grass.

Letting out a groggy yawn, she stretched her arms and legs and slowly sat upright. Three was one of those people who could be described as a morning person. She absolutely loves waking up to the sounds that her forest produced.

…

"No," she thought out loud. "This…can't be right…"

Three clearly remembered being struck down by both Zero and Mikhail. So for all intents and purposes…she should be dead…right? Did Zero fail?

" _No,"_ she thought. _"If she did…I would still be able to feel the Flower's power. But…it's gone now…so…does that mean that…the Flower's been destroyed…? Did Zero have something to do with this…?"_

Stranger still, the forest she was in…it wasn't _her_ forest. Not the way she remembered it. The trees were taller than they should have been, and they were all growing in the wrong places. She also didn't detect any fairies nearby, and her forest was supposed to be full of them. Well…not like it mattered to her in the slightest. Those floating orbs of lift were rather…rude, to say the least.

All of a sudden, Three sensed a presence. Reacting on instinct, she drew one of her swords, and whirled around her to point the blade at her stalker. However, she wasn't expecting her opponent to be equally as prepared.

Her sword clashed wit some kind of lance. And standing several feet in front of her was it's weirder. She was with pale skin, quite dirtied up in various places. She was wearing not a whole lot of clothing, save for a black breast plate of some sort that covered her her chest and stomach, , along with a worn out black loon cloth that covered up her front and rear lady parts. She also wore black leggings and sleeves on her arms that covered her hands up to just past her elbows. Her face was mostly covered by long, white, unkempt hair, just as dirty as her skin. Three could scarcely make out the girl's pure sapphire rigt eye.

The most bizarre part about this girl however, was her skin. A side from it being pale, as noted earlier, it also seemed to be…falling apart in various places.

"You so much as blink," the girl talked. "And I'll run you through."

Three eyed this girl carefully. For a mere human to parry a strike from and Intoner…this was no ordinary girl. Although…there was something different about her. Were it not for the eye, she could have sworn she was looking at an exact duplicate of Zero. But unlike her sister, or rather, anyone in existence, she lacked…hmm…

"And whom, might I ask," Three said. "Would give me the 'honor?'"

"Don't backsass me, Purple," the girl spoke again. "You're in _my_ neck of the woods now, so _I_ get to ask the questions. Who are and who sent you here? And what do they know about this place?"

Three arched an eyebrow at this, not expecting back talk, especially with such an edge. "Interesting," Three observed. "There are faint traces of magic coming from you, yet I detect no life force."

"Are you ignoring me?" the girl asked, clearly loosing patience.

"Ah, forgive me," Three apologized. "It's just, your existence is a rather…peculiar one, I can't help but be fascinated."

"You know what? You are _this close,_ " the girl emphasized with a miniscule amount of space between her finger and thumb as demonstrated with her free hand. "To _my_ existence becoming the _death_ of yours. Now stop fucking around and answer my goddamn questions!"

Three started to snicker all of a sudden.

"Okay, that's IT you little bitch!" The girl then pushed away Three's sword with her lance and immediately pulled back, followed by dashing forward in a thrust motion.

Three however, sparing with Five quite often, was far too familiar with this tactic. She immediately ducked under the lance, the pole just barely gliding over her bosom. Hands on the ground, Three shot her legs up and wrapped them around the pole twisting herself upright to sit on the lance.

The attacker gave a brief look of shock just as Three bent backwards and swiped at her with a horizontal swing of her sword. The girl immediately side stepped the attack, the point of the blade just barely gliding past the bridge of her nose. As if she were trying to shake of an insect…a rather large one, the girl swung her lance in a large horizontal arc to shake off Three.

It worked, sending the purpplete into a nearby tree. Unfortunately for the girl, Three's reflexes were just as good as hers. Three back flipped in the middle of her trajectory, lading on the trunk with her feet. Locking her momentum in place, she quickly sheathed her swords, and brought out her scissors. She pushed off the trunk and in a blur of speed at her attacker.

The girl, acting fast brought her lance up in a defensive stance, clashing with Three, holding each other in place.

"Scissors?" the girl asked skeptically. "Seriously?"

"Everyone knows how dangerous it is to run with them," Three remarked.

"Tch. Smart ass."

Their weapons broke contact, with Three going on the offensive, rapidly striking at the girl with her scissors. The girl kept parrying Three's attacks, spinning her lance around and around while twirling her body, looking for a chance to strike back. Whoever this purple haired Android was, she was good. Real good.

It was then that the girl noticed Three's legs were exposed, not in a suggestive sense, mind you. Seeing this opportunity, the girl ducked under another one of Three's strikes, and kicked her in the shin.

Three grunted in irritation as she stumbled. The girl saw this as another chance. She brought back her lance for a charged attack, thrusting it forward in a great burst of energy.

Three barely had time to bring up a barrier to block the attack. However, the force of the attack caused the barrier to shatter, throwing the quirky Intoner back a few feet, her back colliding with the nearest tree. Three coughed out large chunk of air from her lungs as she sank to the ground on her bottom.

And soon after she began to giggle some more.

"Okay seriously," Three's attacker said. "What the hell do you find so funny?!"

"Oh, don't mind me," Three spoke as she stood up. "I was just having a simple case of nostalgia."

The girl raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Um…okay…?"

"I'm sorry," Three spoke again, sheathing her scissors. "You remind me very much of someone I used to know."

"Heh," the girl chuckled. "If she was anything like me, then it's no wonder you were able to keep up with me like that."

"Not so," Three replied. "The person I'm talking about was the very same person who killed me."

The seemed even more confused now. "Um…okay, guess I must've hit you a little too ha-"

WHACK!

"OW! What in the fff—rrrgh!"

Out of nowhere a book fell from the sky and landed right on the girls head.

"Oof! By my pages!" a rather posh voice spoke in a regal English accent. "That has to be the second rudest awakening I have…wait…where am I?"

"Well," Three said, quite shocked by the new arrival. "That's certainly surprising. I don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of meeting a self-aware tome before."

"What?" the girl said as she rubbed her head, still throbbing from the unannounced impact. She then looked on the ground where, sure enough, a book laid at her feet. She picked it up and studied it closely. The cover was made with a very oriental and intricate platinum border design covering a vast majority of space, with brown being shown in the empty spaces. A face was placed in the center of it all, looking rather serious. Bored even.

"Where the hell did this thing come from?" the girl wondered aloud. "The design shows really shitty taste."

"Oh, marvelous," the voice spoke again. "Yet another foul mouthed hussie."

The girl suddenly dropped the book, eliciting another pained yelp from the voice.

Did…did this book just…talk?!

…

And WHAT did it call her?!

…

AN: It should be noted that I have NOT played the prologue chapters of Drakengard 3; I will get to those in due time (when I have the cash) and then promptly edit any discrepancies in the Intoner's characters as necessary.

…

VOICE CAST

2B – Kira Buckland

9S – Kyle McCarley

A2 – Cherami Leigh

Pod 042 – D.C. Douglas

Pod 153 – Abby Trott

Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci

YoRHa Commander – Chikai Kano

21O – Connor Kelly-Eiding

Anemone – Erica Lindbeck

Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller

Zero – Tara Platt

Three – Mela Lee

Grimoire Weiss – Liam O' Brien


	4. Chapter 4

AN: I don't think I've mentioned this before but, this fic was inspired by another NieR: Automata fic called NieR to Death, written by Coolguybest9. Seriously, check it out, it's pretty neat.

Not even a day after I posted the last chapter, and I'm already working on the next. That shows how motivated I am. And that's thanks to you. You guys rock!

And speaking of you guys:

Clearwing Yuta: Considering that the character in question is actually a copy of the original from the first game, the inevitable reunion is probably going to be a bit bitter sweet.

Nerf585: I'm not making anything definite yet, aside from the pairings already listed. But as things stand now, that's undecided.

Darkuz: Sadly, I can't list anymore than four characters in the summary. Those are the four definite pairings, but I cooooooouuuullld, do some more. I just need to figure out how they would work. Besides, even if I did, why spoil it? It's much more fun when you don't know. Yeah, I'm evil like that.

Madame De Blanc: Three is insane yes, but clever and smart. Besides, the whole insane part was courtesy of the Flower pollenating her brain, as it did with most of Zero's sisters, save for One…uh, no pun intended. With that out of the picture, you get something much more rescinded in terms of Three's personality. As for Accord…funny you mentioned that. I have a theory about her, and will put it into practice later on in the story. It's going to be pretty big in terms of a plot device for both the NieR and the DOD (Drakengard) series and how they are even tied together further than the Watcher Queen. As for the Prologues…yeah I could look it up, but I'm more of a hands on guy. I'd rather experience it than read it. I read it afterwards in case there's anything I didn't quite understand. Thank god for Wikis.

HeroBladeRiyet: I do, but not in the way you're probably expecting.

EternalKing: Taro's endings are kinda bitter sweet rather than happy. The hero saves the day, but dies in the process. Though, admittedly, the events that lead up to it to tend to be emotionally crippling. But if they're well written, those kind of endings are arguably the best. They leave a bigger impression on you than happy endings. As for the Intoners, aside from Zero, I'm not making any promises. Gotta keep some things a question mark and leave you guessing. However, not all of them are going to end up in the world of Automata. Some of the others may end up…in some other dimension…that hint alone should tell you what I have in mind. As for the whole Androids being able to have sex thing, while it's a known fact that Androids do not possess the ability to reproduce, as stated by 9S, that doesn't necessarily mean they don't possess the ability to perform sexual activity. Lots of fanfic writers have made this speculation.

Now with that out of the way: NEEEEEEEEX!

 **Chapter 4**

 **This Is Completely Absurd…**

 **Two Weeks Earlier**

"Aaauuuugh!" a frustrated 9S yelled. "This makes zero sense!" He then kicked a stray piece of rubble on the ground. It clattered loudly among the silence produced by the destroyed room he was standing in.

"Analysis: Shouting and kicking debris across the site will not solve the matter at hand," 153 spoke.

"I know that, Pod," 9S replied. "I'm just supper frustrated. Out of everything I've seen in this world, this is the most puzzling thing ever. We're in the exact location where the spatial anomaly occurred and all we have to see here is a bunch of rubble, and some random busted bed. No energy residue signatures, no sign of _anything_ that could have caused this; all we have to show for it is this! How are we supposed to explain this to the Commander?"

"Analysis: We are dealing with an unknown phenomena," 153 explained. "It may not be possible to explain on the initial observation. Hypothesis: It is possible that the injured human may have some answers to what caused this phenomena. Proposal: Collect present data and report to 21O. Return to the Resistance Camp afterwards to verify the status of YoRHa unit 2B and the human, Sam. Further objectives may be disclosed afterwards."

9S gave a rather exasperated sigh. This was turning into one giant headache. "Yeah, I guess that's probably all we can do right now. Okay, Pod, take a picture of the bed."

"Affirmative." There was a single "click" sound. "Complete."

"Good. Contact 21O."

"Affirmative."

Once again a holographic screen popped up, followed by a ringing sound. After a few moments, 21O's face appeared.

"Scanner Unit 9S to 21O."

"Copy. Have you located the source of the spatial anomaly?"

"Well…I'm in the area where the sensors picked it up but…this was all I found. Pod, send the information to 210."

"Affirmative."

A pop-up appeared on the left of the screen, showing that files were being transferred from 153 to 21O's console. A moment later, said Operator looked over to her left, followed by an arched eyebrow. "9S, how many to I need to remind—"

"I know, 21O, I know what the objective is," an exasperated 9S replied. "But I'm being serious when I say this busted bed is all I found." 9S didn't really remember much before he and 2B had to detonated their Black Boxes to take out a whole platoon of Engels, but he was pretty sure something like this was _not_ common in an abandoned factory.

"Well…that…is definitely unusual, given the location…are you sure there's nothing else?"

"Believe me, I really wish I had more to report, but there's not a clue here about what caused the anomaly. And trust me, I've scanned everything here. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada."

"Alright, 9S," 21O said, trying to calm the Scanner down. "Your frustration is noted, but keep your emotions in check. YoRHa units aren't supposed to take their duties personal you know."

9S sighed. "Yeah, I know…"

"And one denial will suffice."

" _Seriously?"_ 9S thought. _"Now she's saying that with the opposite of affirmations as well?"_

"What about 11B?" 21O added. "Any sign of her or her whereabouts?"

9S sighed. "Nope, dead end there too. No body and no Black Box signal. The only thing I found is her crashed flight unit. Oh wait!"

"What is it?"21O asked.

"I just remembered, I think I saw 11B's sword by the same place where we found the human. He must've been using it trying to fight the Machines."

"Hmmm…I find that both worrisome yet also reassuring," 21O commented.

"What do you mean?"

"Humans generally do not posses combat abilities or the endurance like that of Androids. However, the fact that he had some method of self defense may very well be what kept him from being killed by the Machines he encountered. But we won't know anything more until we either extract the backlog from 106, or wait for the human to wake up. Although…" 21O put her and up to her chin in thought.

"What is it?"

"11B may have made a record document and remotely stored it inside of her sword. If we can access it we may be able to verify the status of 11B."

"Okay, I guess I'll head back and get it, since there's not much else here," 9S said.

"Well, if that's really all to be done there, then your mission is complete." 21O said. "Rendezvous with 2B back at the Resistance Camp and verify the status of the human. Hopefully, when he wakes up, he can provide us with more information on the anomaly."

"Understood. I'm kinda hoping for the same thing. This whole ordeal is giving me a serious headache. 9S, signing off."

The screen flickered off, ending the call.

"C'mon, Pod. Let's not keep 2B waiting."

"Affirmative."

9S and 153 turned to leaved. However, as soon as 9S descended the pile of rubble, he suddenly felt…off. As though a giant weight of sorts had been lifted from his head. 9S stumbled a bit, nearly falling down, but managed to regain his footing, all the while putting a hand on his head.

"Query: Are you alright, 9S?"

"Uhhh…I…I think so…just…a bit tired all of a sudden…" 9S replied, albeit a bit of a fib. _"What was that? It felt like all the energy in my body just…switched off and then back on for a second."_

Now that he thought about it, when he entered the area where the spatial anomaly had taken place, he felt…strange…like more…energized. _"I was acting pretty aggressive when I was trying to find the source of the anomaly, but now that I'm walking away from the area where it happened…it feels like all that energy is…fading…is this what the humans call 'fatigue?'"_ Interesting but worrying.

"Pod, scan all critical systems for errors."

"Complying." 153's antenna shot out and beeped for a few moments. Not long after, it immediately retracted. " Complete. No errors found. Unit 9S is operating at full capacity."

" _Okay now that's weird. Shouldn't there be at least a little issue that caused my fatigue? Wait…"_ 9S looked back at the spot where he was no less than a minute ago. Was there some sort of lingering effect from the anomaly that caused this…"mood swing?"

 **Meanwhile, At The Resistance Camp**

"Quick, in here!" Devola said. 2B rushed inside the apartment room with the crippled human on her back. "Popola, do we have anything to keep him stable?"

"Yeah, there's a first aid kit from the Old World in one of the Storage rooms downstairs."

"Okay, go get it."

"Right." Wasting not a second further, Popola ran back downstairs to get the requested item.

Devola then turned back to 2B, watching as she set the human down on the only bed in the room. "How the hell did this even happen?" she asked with pure concern, confusion, and shock in her voice. "Humans aren't even supposed to be on the planet! And where did he get a pod?"

"The Commander and 21O are going through all records of the Council of Humanity," replied 2B as she removed 106 from the human's back. "But so far, there hasn't been a single report of a human departing from the moon. As for the Pod, it belonged to 11B. My teacher."

"Affirmative." Pod 106 confirmed, now being held by 2B. "This unit has assisted the human, Sam King, through Protocol 221."

"What protocol is that?" Devola asked. She and her sister may help some of the Resistance and YoRHa Androids with a few tasks, but that didn't mean they knew the whole play by play on how YoRHa operated.

"Essentially, Protocal 221 states that everything and anything related to humanity and their survival must be preserved, taking precedence over everything else," the Battle unit explained.

"Well…doesn't look like the survival part's working out too well for him," Devola responded. "How did he even get like this? Where did you find him?"

"9S and I were on a mission to investigate a spatial anomaly that had occurred in the Machine Factory approximately an hour and a half ago. We found him the entrance exactly like this. Apparently he got into a fight with some Machine Life Forms."

"What?!" Devola was utterly shocked. No human would ever be dumb enough to go up against those things, especially if they lacked any type of combat prowess. Something Popola was fairly certain this boy didn't have, if his missing arm was any indication. "Why would anyone send someone from the moon into a factory where Machine Life Forms are produced?!"

"Negative," replied 106. "Sam King has stated multiple times that he does not originate from the moon. He has also openly stated his ignorance and skepticism about the Machine Wars, Machine Life Forms, the alien invaders, Androids, the Resistance, YoRHa, and the Council of Humanity. He is unaware of everything that has happened in the past 9,927 years."

"How—wh—how does he not know about any of this?!" Devola exclaimed, struggling to find the words to describe how baffled she was. "There's no one, human or Android, in existence that doesn't know about this…wait…what do you mean by that last part?"

"Query not understood."

"Devola's referring to the specific year count you gave," 2B replied.

"Sam King has stated his memories from before he appeared in the factory were on the date of January 20th in the year 2018."

Both Devola and 2B went wide eyed at this.

"Wh…I…I don't…how is—"

"I've got it!" Devola never got the chance to finish her sentence, as Popola ran in the room with a first aid kit, a large monitor on wheels, and quite a bit of wires.

"What's all that?" 2B asked.

"Heart monitoring equipment," Popola replied. "I remembered we had some while I was looking for the first aid kit, and good thing too. We're going to need it to see how well he's doing. Devola, can you help me with this please?"

"Sure thing," the twin replied. Devola walked over to her sister, who was immediately removing the makeshift bandages for the human's wound.

"Wait, what are you doing?" 2B said. "I thought humans needed to be bandaged up for extreme wounds like that."

"They do," Devola replied. "But, no offense or anything, the gauze in this kit is made out of thicker cloth, specially designed for treating wounds like this. Though, gotta say, this work you did was pretty quick thinking."

The Android twins slowly undid the black rags that were once 9S's and 2B's visors, as well as 2B's dress, trying not to aggravate the wound. Upon removing the bandage completely, they noticed something odd…something that, they thought at least, needed a lot more time to happen.

"It's…clotted already," Popola observed.

2B remembered 042 saying that a human's blood vessels needed to clot when wounded in order to stop blood from escaping the body. "That's good right?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, definetly," Devola said. "It's just…with a wound like this, it's supposed to take a really REALLY long time to clot like this. Like a few days, maybe a week. How long ago did he lose his arm."

"Response: Approximately one hour, fifteen minutes, and thirty seocnds ago," 106 replied.

"WHAT?!" The twins exclaimed.

"That's impossible!" Popola said, utterly baffled by what she just heard.

"Pod 106," 042 spoke. "The information presented does not match existing information in YoRHa's archival records on human physiology. Hypothesis: Pod 106 possesses a faulty memory bank, likely damaged by the impact from 11B's crashed flight unit."

"Negative," 106 responded. "Internal clock and memory are still functioning despite the status of this unit. It has been one hour, sixteen—"

106 was interrupted by the sound of the door opening and the Resistance Camp leader, Anemone, stepping inside. "Alright," she spoke to 2B in a rather exhausted tone. "So I just want to make sure the conversation I had with the Commander was not some sort of bad joke. You and 9S found a human on the planet."

"The Commander is not one to make jokes," 2B replied. "Especially for something as serious as this."

"Be that as it may, I hope you can forgive me of my skepticism, 2B. I just spent the last hour combing the archives of the Council of Humanity with both the Commander and 21O, and we haven't found anything about a human departing from the moon. All the while helping Devola and Popola to clear out this room for the alleged human you brought back. Is it safe to assume that's him on the bed?" Anemone looked over to where the human was laying. Devola and Popola has continued to apply the gauze on the wound since she had come in.

"Yes," 2B replied.

"What on Earth happened to him?"

"Apparently he got in a fight with a few Machines."

"What?!" Popola went wide eyed at this, hearing it for the first time.

"Yeah, my response exactly," Devola commented.

"Why would a human pick a fight with a few Machines?" Anemone asked, her skepticism unwavering.

"Error," 106 spoke. "The previous assumption is false. Sam King did not provoke the Machine Life Forms. The hostiles ambushed him. Sam King's options were limited in the situation, ergo, Sam King was forced to defend himself. A scenario that humans commonly refer to as, 'fight or flight.'"

Anemone looked at the Pod that was still in 2B's hands. "Well…" she thought for a moment. "I guess that's understandable. But he's still incredibly lucky to have escaped with only a missing arm."

"Yeah, well he's probably not feeling very lucky right now," Devola commented as she finished helping her sister with the gauze.

"Well how is he feeling?" Anemone asked. "Is he alive at least?"

"He had a pulse when we brought him in," 2B said. "But it was pretty weak. I got him here as fast as I could while avoiding the roaming Machines."

"Devola, Popola. Did you two check his pulse?"

"We're setting up the heart monitoring equipment now," Popola said as she was setting up said machine. "If he still has a pulse, we should be able to see how fast his heart is beating with this."

"Query:" 106 stated. "Have Devola and Popola accounted for Sam King's injured left ankle?"

Devola, Popola, Anemone and 2B went wide eyed once again. It seemed like this was going to happen quite often for a bit.

"A severed arm AND a twisted ankle?!" Devola exclaimed. "Good God, this guy's inept."

"I think this is something that the humans called…what was it…a 'miracle?'" Popola wondered aloud, taking a break from setting up the heart monitor to apply gauze to the injured ankle.

"How did he even manage that?" Anemone said. "Fighting Machines with an injury?"

"Negative," 106 corrected. "Sam King received this injury after successfully subduing a total of four Machine Life Forms."

2B looked down at the Pod. "What?" she asked in disbelief.

"Sam King destroyed one Small Stubby, one Axe Equipped Medium Biped, and two Small Flyers."

"That's…actually mildly impressive," Anemone admitted. "If stupidly fortunate."

"The injury however was self inflicted," 106 continued. "Not the result of an attack from a Machine Life Form. The leader of the squad was responsible for the loss of Sam King's arm, however. A Sword Equipped Medium Biped. With his injured ankle, Sam was unable to react in time to avoid being pinned down."

Anemone sighed, trying to imagine how terrified the boy must have been in that situation. "Poor kid. I can't imagine how awful that must've been for him."

"Okay," Popola said. "Heart monitoring is all set. Now let's see how he's doing."

Shortly after the monitor powered on, Devola placed a few suction wires around the area where the human's heart was. After a few seconds, a series of slow beeps was heard, followed by a wavelength being displayed on the screen, along with a number.

53.

"That's not good," Popola said, really concerned.

"Blood pressure's not lookin' too hot either," Devola added. "This guy's going to need more blood in his body."

"So…then he…really is…?" Anemone stared in disbelief.

"I found it hard to believe at first," 2B admitted. "But this says otherwise."

The door opened once again, and in stepped 9S.

"Hey, I'm back 2B."

"9S," 2B acknowledged. "Did you locate the source of the anomaly?"

9S let out an exhausted sigh. "No. The only thing I found was this. Pod 153, transfer files to Pod 042."

"Affirmative," 153 responded.

042 beeped a second later. "Files received. Displaying."

042 projected a holographic screen showing a picture…of a wrecked bed.

2B arched an eyebrow in confusion. "What…is this?"

"Analysis: It is a bed that has been irreparably destroyed," 042 answered.

"I'm aware, Pod. But what I want to know is why this is in the factory. I know for a fact it wasn't there before."

"Unknown."

"It was the only thing I could find," 9S said. "The whole thing in general is bizarre. I couldn't find anything that could've caused it."

"Hmmmm…" 2B pondered on what to do about this.

"How's the human doing?" 9S asked.

"Stable for now," Devola replied. "But just barely. Loosing that arm of his must've been a pretty big shock for him. His heartbeat's pretty low, and so is his blood pressure. We gotta find someway to fix that."

"How long do you think he'll be a sleep for?" Anemone asked.

"He's not sleeping, Anemone," Popola answered grimly. "He's in a coma."

The room went silent after that. Then…

"Um…what's that?" 9S asked.

"Coma," 153 answered. "Definition: A state of deep unconsciousness that lasts for a prolonged or indefinite period, caused especially by severe injury or illness."

"Prolonged…" 2B repeated. "Wait…does that mean he…?" The realization had dawned on her.

"I'm afraid so," Popola replied. "We don't know when he'll be awake. It could take days, weeks, months, maybe even years."

"There's also the chance that he could die in his sleep if his body doesn't get the proper nutrients it needs," Devola added. "Like blood for example. We need to get more blood in his body somehow."

"How would we go about doing that?" Anemone asked.

"Back in the day, whenever a human's blood levels were deficient, procedures called blood transfusions were done," Devola explained.

"Blood transfusions?" 9S repeated a confused look.

"Humans would donate a portion of their blood to other humans, which was then administrated into the receiver's bloodstream," Popola continued for her sister.

"Oh, okay. So if that's all it takes, then we can give him some of our blood," 9S suggested.

"That won't work," said Devola.

"Why not?" 2B asked.

"Because Android blood is synthetic. It's artificial. It would be like mixing good and bad batteries in a lamp. It wouldn't work, and could even do more harm than good."

"What about the humans on the moon?" 9S spoke. "Couldn't we just ask them?"

"I doubt that would be any better," Anemone said. "Considering the upset this is no doubt causing for both the Commander and the Council, I don't think anyone's going to be volunteering as a donor until they get this whole dispute sorted out. I'm definitely not looking forward to any future calls on the matter."

"All the more reason why we need him to wake up as soon as possible," 2B added.

"All that aside," Devola spoke. "Even if the humans were in a position to volunteer, there's still the issue of getting a matching blood type."

"Blood type?" 9S asked, curious at this new information. "You mean…humans have different types of blood?"

"Yes," Popola confirmed. "Just like each individual human's DNA code is unique, so is a human's blood. If a donor's blood type doesn't match the receiver's, then it's incompatible."

"There's also the issue that the donor's blood has to be free of disease or any harmful bacteria," added the twin Android. "We don't know what this guy's allergic too. So if we do a transfusion without knowing how it will affect him before hand, we could end up inadvertently killing him."

The room went silent after this.

"So…" 9S spoke up, trying to alleviate the grim uncertainty going around. "Is there nothing we can do?"

"Well," Devola started again. "The good news is that the human body can produce new blood. And since the blood vessels connecting his missing arm have now clotted, we don't have to worry about anymore blood escaping, unless of course something happens to re open the wound. Unfortunately, that really only works if the human in question has a stable heart and enough nutrients like Vitamin D. And going by what we're seeing right now…this guy's a long ways away from waking up in the next few days."

"Okay, so basically," 2B began. "We just need to get the human's heart back to a stable beat in order for his body to produce more blood, which in turn will cause the human to wake up sooner."

"Yes, but…" Devola said. "We need a certain kind of drug to stabilize the heart."

"What kind of drug is it?" Anemone asked.

"No clue," Popola said. "We don't have enough information on humans from the old world to figure out what would work best for him."

"If we did, we could probably replicate the drug," Devola added. "But that requires both information and ingredients. Neither of which we have."

9S sighed. "Okay, so…what are we going to do then? If we leave him like this, he'll never wake up. We can't keep him hidden like this. Other Androids are going to start talking. I've already had a few people ask me a few questions when I came here."

"Well…" Anemone began. "I do know _one_ person who might have the information we need…"

Devola and Popola went wide-eye in terror. They knew exactly who Anemone was talking about.

"No!" Devola declared. "Absolutely not!"

"Anemone please," Popola pleaded. "Not her. Anyone but her."

"You got any better suggestions?" the Resistance Camp leader deadpanned.

"Who are you guys talking about?" 9S asked, completely oblivious to the twins' frustration.

"Think about it 9S," 2B said, already figuring out who it was. "Who's the one Android that we helped to develop what's called the E-Drug?"

9S eyebrows shot up in realization. "Oh God, no…"

2B let out a very rare exasperated sigh, brining her hand up to her face. "This is completely absurd…"

…

AN: I actually had to do some medical research to figure out what drug is going to be used in the next chapter.

…

 **One Week Later**

"Who in the actual hell has a name that's an insult in reference to a friggin' donkey?" Zero asked, still trying to wrap her head around this woman's bizarre name.

"Hey, it wasn't my choice," Jackass replied. "But I stick to it. And it's actually grown on me. What about you? What's your name?"

"…Zero."

Jackass was silent for a bit before answering. "Just Zero?"

"Yup."

…

"How is a number representing the absence of anything any better than Jackass?"

"Because it sounds badass?" Zero replied (no pun intended from the writer).

"Heh, yeah, sure," Jackass scoffed. "Whoever manufactured you must've had some serious screws loose."

Zero was getting more and more confused by the second. "Um, what?" she said. "Manu—you mean like built?"

"Well duh," Jackass responded. "How else would you be thrown into this war?"

There was a moment of silence before Zero responded. "Okay…couple things. One, I wasn't built, I was born. Two, what war? Does this have anything to do with those 'Machines' that you mentioned?"

The trade offs of confused looks appeared to be following a pattern. Every time one would say something odd, the other would reciprocate with their own odd statement. Jackass was about to respond when she heard her own comm link ring.

Zero, hearing the ring, looked around, not really sure where it was coming from.

"It ain't nothing to panic about kid, it's just a call," Jackass said.

Zero turned to face her again. "A…call?"

"Yeah, and from the looks of it, it's kinda important. So just sit tight for a bit, yeah? I gotta take this." Jackass then placed her right hand up to the area where her right ear was. "Jackass here."

"Jackass, it's Anemone," a more gentler yet authoritive voice responded.

" _Is…that some sort of telepathy?"_ Zero asked herself. A similar type of communication over long distances was possible through that, but they can only be heard in someone else's mind. This she could hear loud and clear with her ears. So clearly, it _wasn't_ telepathy. Hell it wasn't even magic. Come to think of it…Zero couldn't sense any kind of life force from Jackass.

" _It's not quite man, yet not quite beast."_ The words of her long deceased comrade Michael echoed in her head. _"It appears to be some sort of automaton."_

" _But…that's impossible,"_ Zero thought. The only thing she saw that fit that description were the countless number of Titans she fought, and they were MASSIVE. Jackass…had she not been paying attention closely, she would've most certainly mistaken her for an actual human being. What the hell was she?

"Hey, Anem," Jackass replied. "What's up?"

"An anomaly apparently," the response came.

"Huh?"

"I got a call from the Commander," Anemone explained. "Another anomaly has been spotted somewhere in the desert."

"Wait, hold on," Jackass said. "Does this have anything to do with the..." she paused for a bit, trying to choose her words carefully, just in case someone was listening in. "…'new arrival' in the camp?"

"I…don't know," Anemone answered. "It could be. The Commander did say that the nature of the anomaly was the exact same as the one found in the factory."

"Did she dispatch any of her guys to come here to check it out?"

"Yes. 45D and 22G should be meeting you shortly."

"Wait, only a Defense and Gunslinger Units?"

"They were the only ones near by. And available. Everyone else is either back at the bunker for maintenance, or are out dealing with their own missions."

"I thought Scanner Units were a must for this sort of thing."

"9S couldn't even figure out the first anomaly. Hell, he's _still_ trying to wrap his mind around how a spatial anomaly can even happen in the first place. Same with the Commander. Besides, he and 2B are too busy helping Devola and Popola with…'other things.'"

It took a moment for Jackass to figure out what she was non-verbally trying to say. "Speaking of which…any word on how…'you—know—who' came to be?"

Anemone gave an exasperated sigh. "No, not yet at least. Every time I ask, it's either an answer that equals 'we're working on it' or they just try to steer away from the topic all together. If I didn't know any better, I'd suspect that they're trying to sweep this whole thing under the rug."

"Heh, yeah that sounds like Whitey alright. They're probably just waiting for him to wake up. Can't get the full story without hearing it from both sides, right?"

"I'm hoping it's that simple."

"What about that Pod that was there? Surely that'd have some information right?"

"Ugh, no luck there, either. As far as I'm aware, that thing's still undergoing maintenance. I asked 9S if he could talk to the Mechanic unit that was performing the maintenance, and he told me that it wouldn't work. This whole scenario is classified Level 5, remember? Very hush-hush."

"The worst kind ever. Well, whatever. Tell the two YoRHa units inbound that their search won't take long. I'm already standing at the place where the anomaly happened."

There was a brief silence before Anemone responded. "What?"

"Yeah, was taking a bit of a stroll through the more rubbly parts of the desert, when all of a sudden, BAM! Bright flash of white light up in the sky, followed by, 'It's raining shit, halejgluia!'"

"I'm…pretty sure that's not how the song goes, Jackass."

"It's called a spoof, Anem. It's supposed to be funny."

"And what kind of 'shit' are we talking about?"

"Some cardboard boxes with labels on them. They've all got the 'you-know-who's' name on them, but the rest of what they say, no clue what they are."

"Have you looked in them?"

"I will, but…there's uh…there's something else here that's…kinda important…"

"What do you mean?"

"The, uh…anomaly…kinda spat out a…new visitor…"

Anemone went silent after Jackass said this. Choosing her words carefully, she finally responded. "Does she have…the same thing as the other?"

"'Thing?'"

"Rhymes with 'false.'"

"Rhymes wi…oh." Jackass understood what Anemone was asking for.  
"Hold on a second. Hey, kid," she then turned to Zero. "I'm gonna need to feel under your wrist for a bit."

Zero arched her eyebrow. "Uhhhh, why?"

"Oh, don't get paranoid on me. I'm not gonna bite. Just trust me, okay? Gotta make sure of something."

Zero eyed Jackass cautiously. She had no idea what was going on between her and this…"Anemone" lady…but it seemed like they were being very picky about their word choice. Almost as if the sand around them had ears.

" _Ugh, whatever,"_ Zero thought. "Fine," she said as she begrudgingly held out her hand. Immediately, Zero winced as Jackass got quite an iron grip on her wrist. _"Okay seriously, what IS this woman? Her hand isn't generating any heat, and it feels like it's made out of…metal…wait…is…is she related to Accord somehow?"_

Jackass held Zero's wrist, focusing on finding that one small detail. Eventually, she got it.

A pulse.

Jackass stared wide-eyed at Zero. Zero stared back, not really sure what got Jackass so shocked.

"Yup," Jackass said. "She's got one."

"'She?'" Anemone asked shocked. "It's a girl this time?"

"Yup. White as a sheet. Got a pretty menacing glare too. Could give Whitey a run for her Gs."

"I'm sitting right here you know," Zero replied irritated.

"So yeah, might want to update the YoRHa guys. This is probably going to be another Level 5 thing."

"Got it. 45D and 22G will be there in about fifteen minutes," Anemone said. "I'll let them know what's going on. In the meantime, try to see what you can find out about her."

"Gotcha. Jackass out." Jackass then hung up. "Okay kiddo, pop quiz." She turned to Zero. "Are you from the Council of Humanity?"

Zero gave yet another puzzled look. "The Council of…what?"

"…uhhh, the group of all the remaining humans that are on the moon?" Jackass explained. "Seriously how do you not—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out," Zero interrupted. "Humans? On the MOON? You're fucking with me aren't you? C'mon, you've gotta be fucking with me."

Jackass was starting to get more curious than she was confused with Zero's responses. She didn't know about the Machine War and she apparently doesn't know about the Council of Humanity. Where the hell did she come from to NOT know about that? "You don't believe me?"

"No shit," Zero replied. "Traveling to the moon? Seriously? That wasn't even a good attempt at a joke. No airship has ever been able to fly that high, hell not even dragons could do it, not even with magic." She should know. Mikhail tried it once. And let's just say it didn't go too well.

"Wh—okay, what?" Jackass said. "You must've hit you're head pretty hard, kid. Dragons and magic? Seriously? _Those_ don't exist."

"I can pull a sword out of thin air," Zero said, demonstrating by summoning her blade once again in front of Jackass. "How do you _not_ describe that as magic?"

"Because I know several other guys who can do the exact same thing," Jackass replied. "I dunno how they do it, but it's some kind of exclusive YoRHa tech. I'd LOVE to get my hands on that if I could."

Your…ha? _"What kind of stupid name is that?"_ Zero questioned.

"Although…" Jackass eyed Zero a bit carefully. "You're the first human I've seen that can do that. Hell, at least you're conscious. Last human I met got into a fight with a few Machines and got his arm cut off."

"I'm not a human. I'm an Intoner."

"Uh…what? What the hell is that?"

"A being of ridiculously potent magical power, essentially. Not that _I_ was the one that came up with that name. I honestly hate it." Although…for whatever reason, she felt that her magical power was…a bit more rescinded than it was when she had the flower.

" _That's the second time she brought up magic,"_ Jackass thought. _"Does she really believe that strongly that's a thing?"_

"And what did you mean by 'First Human?' What do you mean by that?"

"Okay, seriously kid? _Where_ have you been for the last few centuries? How do you not know anything about what we've been talking about?"

"I already told you, I'm supposed to be dead, remember?"

"Yeah I remember. What I don't understand is why you think that you're supposed to be dead."

"Because…because I needed to die…"

…

"Oooookaaaayy…why?"

"Because it was either that, or let the worst parasite in existence bloom inside me and destroy the world…"

"…Well…world's pretty much destroyed now…and it wasn't caused by any parasite I know of."

Zero looked around the sandy environment she was stuck in. "The world…doesn't look like this, does it?"

"Nah, there's a ruined city about a few minutes walk from here," Jackass replied. "No sand for miles. Just lots and lots of busted streets, buildings, and rubble."

"'Ruined?'"

"Yeah, we call it 'Relic City,' since it's pretty much one big fossil of what the humans built back in the old world."

"You keep using the word 'humans' like their extinct," Zero said.

"They kinda are," came the reply.

Zero froze. "What?"

Jackass paused at Zero's expression before answering. "Kid, do you know _anything_ about this war?"

"'Okay seriously, what war?" Zero was getting really irritated by this. "The only war I know of was the one I waged against my sisters for three solid years."

Now _that_ caught Jackass's attention. She knew there wasn't any infighting on the Human colony on the moon, at least not that she knew. But Zero was claiming to have not only been in a war, but _waged_ it. Against _siblings_ no less. "What's the last thing you remember before coming here?"

Before Zero could answer Jackass interrupted. "Besides supposedly dying, I mean. Like the date."

Zero frowned at this. _"Does it look like I keep track of that kind of shit?"_ Zero desperately tried to wrack her brain for the answer. She sure as hell didn't remember the _exact_ date. Hell, she wasn't really that focused on remembering a whole lot, considering that she was practically rushing to her death. No point in remembering pointless things when you're going do die anyway, right? But she wasn't dead. How? No clue, and it was really pissing her off. But for now, that could wait. What year was it last? And why did that matter? "Uhhh…sometime in the…1020s I think?"

Jackass's eyebrows noticeably shot up at hearing this. "Ten twe—are you sure about that?" she asked incredulously.

"Do I look like I've got a fucking calendar on me?" Zero asked irritated. "I don't keep track of the days that go by, that's too much trouble to remember. All I remember is the year. The year that I finally managed to kill all my sisters. 1023. Yeah, that was it."

Jackass let this information sink in before she let out an exasperated sigh. "This could be a problem."

…

AN: I may have flubbed up on the recent date that was in Branch D of DOD 3. I'll go back and check it (when I'm not too lazy to do it), and then update it accordingly.

…

VOICE CAST

2B – Kira Buckland

9S – Kyle McCarley

Pod 042 – D.C. Douglas

Pod 153 – Abby Trott

Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci

Devola – Eden Riegel

Popola – Eden Riegel

Anemone – Erica Lindbeck

21O – Connor Kelly-Eiding

Zero – Tara Platt

Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller


	5. Chapter 5

Uuuuuuuuuuuuugh…okay, real talk here, before we get into this, there is a really, really, REALLY rude reviewer that I have to acknowledge/shut down. And as much as I'm trying to be passive aggressive about it, it will be pretty obvious that I'm pissed. So fair warning if you want to skip that. But I would like to ease the minds of every one who has a legitimate account who has followed, favorite, and reviewed my story, that what follows this paragraph does not apply to either of you personally. You have all been a wonderful support to this story and I am very happy that you are enjoying it. This review was an anonymous guest whom didn't even bother at being polite. The review they left has been deleted. That being said…

SumRandomButthurtDisrespectfulKid(AKA Guest): Clearly you didn't read my warning at the start of chapter two. Not only is your "review" more of a whiney rant, but it was rushed, poorly written & organized with several capitalization and grammar errors, not thought out, has several inconsistencies with the NieR series, leading me to believe you either didn't play the first game or even bothered to research thoroughly, and just plain rude and disrespectful.

The only thing smart about it, was that you posted it as a guest, another reason why I'm not tempted to take you seriously. So obviously I can't mark it as spam. But I can delete it.

I was actually tempted to rip your review to shreds on every single detail, but then I realized that it's just not worth the effort. You're clearly a troll, and this was attempt at getting attention. Well congrats. You got it. But I seriously doubt this is what you had in mind.

Let me make one thing absolutely clear. I am the writer of this story. _ME._ Not you. So if I write something that you don't agree with, too bad. I'm writing this because it's a hobby and I have fun with it. And if other people end up liking it, that's great. Hell, I _hope_ more people end up liking it than hating it. If they hate it, I understand, I can't force someone to think a certain way. However, people like you ruin it, not only for me, but for other readers as well. The "fan" in fan fiction should be a key word. They are written by fans of series, not necessarily professionals. I'm not perfect, but I do not need someone who's worse than me at writing an opinion calling me out on it. If you feel like there's something that should be fixed, than let me know WITH RESPECT. Do not curse, do not insult, and if you have nothing nice say period, then _keep. Your. F*cking. Mouth. Shut._ I will not tolerate any of that shit.

The _one_ good thing you did was give me a major self confidence boost in my writing abilities in comparison to yours. So if nothing else I do thank you for that. Although from your perspective that might be more of an insult, but hey, I don't care.

(Sigh) Okay, now to the rest of you, if you took the time to read that, than I am really REALLY sorry you had to see that. I absolutely HATE being that kind of guy, but if I have to put my foot down, I'll do it with no hesitation. I was thinking of just ignoring it altogether, but the amount of arrogance was so vexing I could not let it slide. Please, please PLEASE do not do anything to make me do that, I would really hate to loose following because of it.

Now, on to the people that actually matter to me.

corvi1718: Thanks, I'm glad you're loving it so far!

RaphiTheOne: Yeah, I'm trying to be as realistic as I can be with this. It will be at least one more chapter before we return to Sam's POV in the present. Still some exposition I want to get out of the way. As for Zero, weeeeeelllll, now that she doesn't have a massive target on her head anymore, she's going to have a LOT of time to reevaluate her train wreck of a life. And she won't have to do it alone.

Darkuz: Ummmmmm…you might want to go and reread the last chapter. Blood transfusion won't be possible for Sam.

fanakatsuki: I have not played the first two Drakengard games, only the third one. So I'm only sticking to what I know and what I'm familiar with. As for 11B, no, she's dead, just like she is cannon. However…the details of how…well, let's just say Sam will find out about it eventually.

AlexisBaudens: Yeah, Zero and Sam…let's just say that Sam's going to be the kind of person who doesn't turn away when he knows someone's going through a hard time. And since everything they knew is now gone, they'll have a lot to cope with together. And Sam will be tempted to give Zero a better life than what she had. However, Sam will not have prior knowledge of the Drakengard games. And as for Zero, she's got a completely new body, flesh and blood right arm included. Sorry if I didn't make that apparent.

fan fic fan 759: You'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Now then…NEEEEEEXT!

 **Chapter 5**

 **We're Going To Need Some Help…**

 **Two Weeks Earlier**

"It was coherent?" 2B asked 106, having a hard time believing what she was being told.

"Affirmative," 106 replied, which was still being held by 9S. "The Sword Equipped Medium Biped displayed intelligence and speech in the same way that Androids and humans are able to. It was able to command and issue orders to a small platoon of Machine Life Forms bearing less intelligence than the leader. However, while less intelligent, the other Machines were also capable of speech as well."

"Yeah," 9S agreed. "We've actually been seeing that quite a bit recently. 2B and I were out in the desert on a mission, and we came across some Machines that displayed…some kind of self-awareness. At first I thought they were just repeating things that humans were able to say, but…well…we saw something…really strange…"

"Query: What was 'strange?'" 106 asked.

"It's not important," 2B quickly denied. "Not until we know what we saw for sure. Is there anything else about the human's encounter with the Machines that you can tell us?"

"The leader was also able to determine Sam King's status as a human being and wished to capture him. Sam King fought back, his fear and stress escalating at the thought of dissection."

"Whoa, what?!" 9S exclaimed. "Why would the Machines want to do that to a human?!"

"Unknown," 106 responed. "However, the Machine Life Form kept referring to two individuals by name. Adam and Eve."

2B cocked an eyebrow at this. "Who are they?"

"Unknown. Details were not disclosed about Adam and Eve's identities."

"Hmmm…those names…" 9S pondered.

"Do you know about them?" 2B asked.

"Huh? Well…no not exactly…I mean, I believe they're pretty common human names, Adam typically being a male name and Eve a female name but…those two names tied with a conjunction…it sounds…really familiar…like those two names are supposed to be…significant, I guess?"

"Affirmative," 153 stated. "In the biblical text, the book of Genesis of the Old Testament, it is said that Adam and Eve were the very first humans created by God in the Garden of Eden."

"The first humans?" 2B repeated.

"Maybe these are the first Machines and they're just trying to copy humanity's concept of religion?"

"Unknown," 042 replied. "Although Christianity and Judaism were among the most widely practiced form of religious beliefs, there were many other practices that followed the beliefs of other gods based on culture."

"Was…there ever any proof that…these gods actually existed?" 2B asked, completely out of her own curiosity. This caused 9S to have a rather suppressed look on her face.

2B _never_ asked about humans on her own accord. She only got into conversations about such topics when he was the one that initiated them.

"Negative," 042 replied. "However, there are no records of human beliefs operating on facts. Or rather, not entirely based on facts."

"…what does that mean?" 2B asked.

"Unknown," both 042 and 153 replied.

2B was a slightly confused by this response.

"Pods," 9S spoke, equally confused. "If you knew about a humans actions on certain beliefs not based on facts, then how could you not know why humans followed those beliefs?"

"The concept of faith, trust, and beliefs are human concepts," 106 replied. "Tactical Support Units such as the ones present, are programed simply to follow orders. To have either of those aspects, one must possess, what the humans call, a will."

"A…will?" 2B asked.

"The word 'will' has various definitions depending on the context in which it is used," 106 explained. "In this case, a will is defined as the faculty by which a person decides on and initiates action."

"So…in other words a will is like…a conviction?" 9S asked.

"Supposedly," 106 replied. "One definition of conviction is a firmly held belief or opinion."

"So…theoretically speaking…" 9S continued. "Humans had the ability of acting on a belief without any facts to confirm that an idea is right or wrong?"

"Correct," 106 answered.

"But…that doesn't make any sense. What if a human's beliefs were wrong?"

"Many humans acted on unpopular beliefs, not limited to religion. Humans who disagreed with beliefs tended to fight back by arguing their beliefs, trying to prove them as the true way of thinking, acting, living, and sometimes even dying. In the worst case scenario, this, more often than not, would lead to wars."

"That…seems completely irrational," 2B stated.

"Affirmative," 106 stated. "However…there is something…profound about the unyieldingness of a human will."

2B looked at 106 not expecting a shift in its speech pattern. It…almost sounded as though it were…in thought. "Pod…?"

"This unit's encounter with Sam King has yielded the action of a human will in motion. The tactic in which Sam King used to destroy two Flyers was reckless; an unstable course of action. Yet it still yielded effective results, despite the injury Sam King received. Had Sam King not cut down the enemies forces in half, and prolonged the battle until units 2B and 9S arrived, Sam King would not have survived the battle."

"What are you trying to say?" 9S asked.

"Hypothesis: Sam King acted merely on instinct instead of strategic and rational thought. Such actions do not always yield successful results. However, Sam King was able to defy the probability of his plan not working, simply because he knew what he wanted to do in the fight. Therefore, humans may possess the ability to make the most illogical decisions imaginable and still arrive at the answers they seek."

"But he still got injured," 2B stated.

"This unit cannot find any data as to weather or not injury was relevant in Sam King's course of action. Sam King stated many times during his journey through the factory that he just wanted to escape alive and, in his words, 'go home.'"

2B and 9S took a moment to consider what 106 was saying. It was true that, despite being modeled after humans, most Androids didn't really know much about them. They didn't know how they thought or acted. Granted the general idea was that since they were created by humans in their image, then they could act and think like humans too. But…no one had ever met a human before. How sure could they be that they were created in their image if the never met one?

But in 2B and 9S's case, along with a few others, they no longer needed to wonder that. They had met their first human. And with their meeting spawned a multitude of feelings within the two androids.

For 9S, it was an insatiable amount of curiosity and questions that he wanted to ask the human. There was so much about their lifestyle and culture that he wanted to know.

As for 2B, relief was definitely one word to describe what she was feeling, but it wasn't complete. Hope was a more stronger feeling in her. Hope in absolution and redemption perhaps. Redemption from a power higher than the Commander. She wasn't really sure what that was for her thought. God? Or the humans?

Glory to Mankind.

That one phrase that YoRHa kept saying over and over again. Like a record stuck on repeat. 2B never paid it much mind, not really bothering to figure out the meaning behind that phrase…but a lot of Androids were rather…fanatical about humans.

Religion confused 2B very much. Some humans believed that they were brought into existence by some divine being that no one ever saw. Others just believed that they were the remnants of some cosmic explosion known as the Big Bang. And from what she remembered 9S telling her in the past, a lot of wars were fought over who was right. It seemed foolish.

But then again…human nature in general seemed foolish to her. And some Androids were pretty good at mimicking it. Some Androids to the humans prospect of God and applied it to humans. God created humans. Humans created androids. So some Androids revered them as gods of sorts.

Giving "Glory to Mankind" a whole new meaning.

At first, 2B thought nothing of it. Just more Androids imitating human cultures and customs. However…

"Pod 042, do you have an excerpt of what the humans called the bible?" 2B asked her pod.

9S raised his eyebrow at the sudden inquiry from his partner. 2B had never asked something like that before.

"Affirmative," 042 responded. "Query: What book?"

"What boo…there's…only one bible isn't there?"

"Correct. However, the bible is a compilation of the scriptures translated into the English language for the Christian faith. There are sixty-six books in total."

"Does it say anything about humans?"

"Query not understood."

"What I mean is—"

"Umm…2B?" 9S asked. "Are…are you okay? This is the first time I've ever seen you be so…inquisitive about something human related."

2B went silent for a moment before responding. It was definitely a good question. The answer to which she wasn't entirely sure of. Or at least not entirely sure she should tell 9S. Emotions are prohibited. That's what she would always say. However, just because they're prohibited doesn't mean Androids have the luxury of shutting them off completely. Her past…experiences, as they were, with 9S were proof of that.

"Let's just say that…considering what we've just discovered…I have…more thoughts and questions than I'm used to…" 2B responded, carefully choosing her words. "I'm sure you've heard rumors of the worst case scenario 9S?"

"…umm…what's the wor—wait…you don't mean…?"

2B didn't respond. She just kept her sapphire eyes locked on 9S. It was affirmation enough for the Scanner.

"Pod," 2B spoke, attempting to steer the conversation away from a depressing topic. "What is the first book in the bible?"

"The book of Genesis," 042 replied. "Which chapter?"

"Whichever one explains how humans were made."

"Chapter one verse twenty six through twenty eight. 'Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."'

Both Androids were silent until 042 was done reciting the scripture. "Uhhh…that…doesn't really explain a whole lot. So…what, humans just…magically poofed into existence just because some…all-seeing omnipotent…thing? How does that even make sense?"

"Unknown."

" _Yup,"_ 2B thought. _"Still confusing."_

"Yo," a husky female voice said.

2B and 9S turned to see Jackass walk up to them.

"Anem called. Told me that it was an emergency. Didn't really explain much in detail, just that I do some medical research about how to fix up a human heart. Not sure why, I can clearly see it's nothing Machine related. So, what's up?"

There was a moment of silence before 9S answered. "It's better if you saw it. Anemone's in one of the empty rooms upstairs. We'll be with you in a bit, we've gotta send 106 back to the Bunker for maintenance."

Jackass raised her one visible eyebrow in confusion. "Never took you to be the cryptic type, Nines," she said. "But hey, if whatever's going on has got _you_ of all people at a loss for words, it's _must_ be pretty fuckin' serious. Alright, I'll head on over there. See ya in a bit, kids."

Jackass then gave a single wave and walked off.

"I really wish she would stop calling us 'kids,'" 9S complained as he turned to place 106 in the transporter to the Bunker. "Oh, before I forget…" 9S then pulled out 11B's YoRHa Issue Blade and placed it alongside 106 in the transporter. "Did the human used that to fight off the Machines?"

"Affirmative," 106 said. "Querry: Has 9S been able to confirm 11B's whereabouts?"

9S sighed. "No dice. If 11B is still active, she's long gone. We could probably start looking for her if she left any documents sealed in her blade. But…unfortunately, it's got a pretty serious lock on it. Not even I can hack into it. Whatever was in here, 11B didn't want anyone peeping in on."

"Affirmative. Unit 11B was not always forthcoming with…personal matters with her comrades."

9S eyed 106 for a moment. It paused in its sentenced. 9S was pretty sure pods weren't supposed to hesitate in their speaking process. Was there something about 11B that 106 knew but wasn't telling? No…Pod's aren't programed to withhold information…right?

Didn't matter. "The Commander will want to know what happened to her, so once your maintenance is done, you might want to try to see if you can take a crack at it."

"…Affirmative."

That was the last thing 106 said before the transporter closed, a soft hum vibrating from it's machinery. 106 was now being transporter to the Bunker.

"Well, that's that. C'mon, let's go meet up with Jackass and the others," 9S said.

"Right." Both 2B and 9S started to head back to where Anemone, Jackass, Popola and Devola were. However…

"Hey…2B?"

"Yes?"

"Does…this whole thing bother you?"

"…I'm not sure I understand."

"Well…let's review what's happened in the past couple of days since we got here. First there were those two humanoid Machines in the desert that just appeared literally out of nowhere, then we get a report of a rip in the fabric of time and space, which apparently is possible, and then we find a human. The first human that _anyone_ has seen in several thousand years, and from what 106 has told us, he doesn't know anything about the Machine Wars."

"…What're you trying to say?"

"I'm saying some really REALLY strange is going on here. All of these strange events happening one after another? First humanoid Machines and now an actual human? I'm not usually the paranoid one, but…I'm finding it very hard to believe that this is all coincidence. Something's happening. Something big."

"How do you know this?"

"I don't, it's…it's just a…I think the humans called it a hunch."

"A what?"

"Hunch," 153 explained. "Definition: A feeling or guess based on intuition rather than known facts."

"…an assumption then?" 2B asked. "9S this doesn't really sound like something a Scanner would draw a conclusion with."

"Except there's questions than answers," 9S countered. "Guesses are all we've got at this point. And besides, asking about human religion…that's not something I've ever seen you do…2B…are you…really okay?"

2B stopped walking. There it was again. Her partner. Her one and only true friend in this war…worried about her. Again. Just like all the countless other times.

She hated it.

She always would.

Not about 9S's concern. That was one of the many things about him that she adored. She found it…sweet even. But…how many times had she found herself stuck in this perpetual cycle of grief, fear, and insanity? Decade after decade. Indefinetly.

And yet…in all of the hundreds of years she has been in this war…not once has she ever felt close to her breaking point. Her faith in her duty…wavering.

Would she ever find absolution?

"…Emotions…are prohibited." That was all 2B said before se started walking away, her fists clenched tightly, her teeth grinding, desperate to fight the tears forming in her now exposed eyes. However, her efforts to hide the crack in her voice…failed.

And 9S heard it.

He knew something was bothering her.

But far be it for someone like 2B to open up to anyone.

At times like this…he felt utterly useless…

…

"No fuckin' way." Those were the words that Jackass spoke when she saw the comatose human for the first time. "This is a human? Holy shit they really did model us after them!"

Anemone held the urge to groan, as did the others present. Mostly due to Jackass's lack of modesty in a serious situation as this, but the shit-eating grin that she was wearing the whole time didn't help either. "Jackass please," Anemone said. "Can you try to be serious about this?"

"What makes you think I'm not serious?" came the reply.

"Look in a mirror and tell me that grin you have is your serious face," Devola countered.

"Hey red, it takes more muscles to smile than it does to frown."

"Androids don't have muscles," 2B stated.

"Uh, I think she was being facetious, 2B," 9S clarified.

Devola sighed. "What else is new?"

"C'mon, you know you love it," Jackass quipped.

"Can we please focus?" Popola spoke; trying her absolute best not to collapse from the mental exhaustion this whole ordeal was giving her. If it were possible, she'd be having a serious headache right about now. "We need to find a way to heal him. Did you at least figure something out before coming here?"

"Don't get your panties in a wad, red," Jackass replied. "I got the info covered."

"Really wish she'd stop calling us that," Devola muttered under her breath, but not soft enough that it wasn't deaf to Popola, who just sighed.

Jackass dug into her satchel and pulled out a book on human medicine and physiology. "Look, I know most of you have your reservations about me doing this shit, and I get it. I'm a scientist, not a doctor."

"Mad scientist, more like it," 9S commented.

This earned him a light nudge from 2B, followed by a look that practically said, "don't start."

"Ignoring that," Jackass continued. "But I wouldn't have developed the E-Drug if I didn't have _some_ idea of how adrenaline was processed through the heart, and by extension, the heart in general. And now that I'm looking at the genuine article, I can definitely see why you wanted to keep this hush-hush, Anem."

"So what did you find?" Anemone asked.

"Well…" Jackass paused a bit before continuing, trying her best to choose her next words carefully. "Okay, first up, I want to say there is no guarantee that what I'm about to tell you is going to work. Especially considering how fucked up this guy is."

"All I want to hear right now is what our options are," Anemone corrected. "We can figure out the rest afterwards."

"Alright." Jackass then started flipping through the book. "So…I found two options and both of them are types of, what the humans called, cardioversion."

"What's that?" 2B asked.

"Well, according to this, it's a process that's used to get the heart back to beating normally," Jackass explained. "And there's two kinds. Electrical and chemical."

"Are either of them possible for him?" Devola asked.

"Well… _one_ of them is…but getting the materials for it might be a bit difficult considering the neighborhood."

"And the other?" Popola inquired.

"Extremely risky," came the reply.

"Let's hear the risky one first," Anemone spoke.

"That would be the electrical cardioversion. For this, we'd have to apply an electric shock to his heart."

"Whoa, what?!" 9S exclaimed. "Why?!"

"Because of the jolt that would travel through his body," Jackass said. "It's kind of like giving a jump start to a car battery. Only this one has a lot more risk factors."

"Such as?" Devola aksed.

"Well for one thing it could disrupt the blood clot that's formed where his arm used to be," Jackass continued. "And if it that gets to his brain…well, he'll die of a stroke. And there's also a chance that an electric shock might damage the heart even further. We are talking about injecting voltages into a human body after all, and those are pretty dangerous in high doses. Fatal even. Another thing is that it might not have any effect at all. The only other things that would work would either be medicine or a pacemaker."

"A pacemaker? What's that?" 2B inquired.

"Pacemaker," 042 spoke. "Or pacesetter: An artificial device for stimulating the heart muscle in regulating its contractions."

"How does that work?" 2B asked further.

"By surgical insertion," 042 answered.

"Surgical?" 9S asked, not really understanding what that mean.

"Surgery is a procedure that humans used to treat injuries or disorders of the body by incision or manipulation, especially with instruments," 153 clarified.

"Wait so…humans fixed other humans by… _cutting_ them _open?!_ " 9S's shock was very apparent. "Isn't that…I dunno, counterproductive?"

"Only if you had someone who isn't qualified for the job," Jackass replied. "And I seriously doubt anyone here is. I know I'm not. Unless of course you know of someone Anem?"

"Human physiology isn't exactly a commonly discussed topic around here, nor is it widely known in depth," the Resistance leader answered.

"We aren't really experts in that field either," Popola said.

"I thought you were well versed in this," 2B spoke up.

"Knowledge isn't the same thing as practice," Devola replied. "Just cuz we know about the stuff doesn't mean we have the experience."

"Alright," Anemone decided. "So the electric cardioversion is out of the question. What about the other one?"

"That's the chemical one," Jackass answered. "And like I said before, it's possible, but getting the materials for it might be a bit difficult."

"Why's that?" 9S asked.

"Because the keyword is 'chemical,' and that means we're going to need a specific chemical compound that looks like this." Jackass then handed the book over to Anemone once she had flipped to the page she needed to show her.

2B, 9S, Devola and Popola all gathered around to see what Jackass was talking about. In the book was a diagram of an octagon with several letters, numbers, and lines sprouting from it. Below was a label that read: CH11H17NO•HCI.

"Uhhh…what is this?" Anemone asked.

"It's a compound for a type of drug called Mexitil. It's an oral medicine that's used to stabilize the heart." Jackass explained.

"Okay, so do you have it?" Devola asked.

"Guys, have you even been listening to what I've been saying?" Jackass rebutted, rather irritated."I-need-the-ma-ter-i-als. Didn't I say that was going to be difficult?"

"We get it," 2B spoke. She rarely ever let her emotions show, but Jackass was one of those people who really knew how to grind someone's gears, even for the most laid back. "So what do you need?"

"Read the book," came the reply.

2B resisted the urge to groan and roll her eyes. 9S on the other hand didn't.

"Colloidal silicon dioxide, corn starch, magnesium stearate…titanium dioxide?!" 9S read out loud the contents of the drug, not really understanding what half of this stuff was. "Where the hell are we supposed to find all this?!"

"See, that right there is exactly why I said it would be difficult," Jackass explained. "Half of the materials are either hard to come by, or I need to make them from scratch."

"But you know how to cultivate this drug, right?" Anemone inquired.

"Yes," Jackass clarified. "But _only_ if I have those _exact_ materials. Which I don't. And I have no clue where to start looking."

Anemone sighed. "Great. So we've reached a dead end."

"Not unless we can find the materials," 2B said.

"W-wai-2B hold on," 9S interjected. "This is a specific set of materials we're looking for. It's not like trying to find spare parts. Where are we even going to find something like corn starch?"

"Pod," 2B instructed 042. "Search for areas containing the required materials for the Mexitil."

"Affirmative," 042 replied. After a few beeps, a holographic map screen appeared mapping various points in areas widely spread apart from each other. "Locations found. Colloidal silicon dioxide is not a natural occurring element; cultivation will be necessary. However, the base material of colloidal silicon dioxide is silica, a hard unreactive, colorless compound that occurs as the mineral quartz and as a principal constituent of sandstone and other rocks. Silica is also known as silicon dioxide, its chemical formula known as SiO2. Possible areas for mining silica would most likely be located in the desert region."

"Okay…so we have to get silica from the desert," 9S verified. "How are we supposed to turn that into colloidal silicon dioxide?"

"Colloidal silicon dioxide is a fine form of silicon that can be dispersed evenly," 153 explained. "It is formed through the hydrolysis of a silicon compound."

"Hydrolysis…so…we just place it in water then?" 9S asked.

"Affirmative," both pods replied.

"Corn starch is the starch derived from maize, or corn grain," 153 continued explaining. "The starch is obtainable from the endosperm of the kernel. No known locations for any corn grains exist."

"See?" 9S spoke. "Like I said."

"Actually," Popola began. "We might have some uncooked corn lying around in storage. So we can take a look at that."

"We've got a lot of things in storage, food and crops included," Anemone explained. "There's a good chance we can find something there."

"Hmm…" 2B went into a rare state of thought.

"2B?" 9S asked, not remembering his partner ever having this look on her face.

"Well," 2B began. "I remember 22B having…a hobby I think the humans called it, for cooking in her spare time. She always tries to get the rest of the Androids to try whatever she makes."

"Wow, that's pretty neat!" 9S said, his curiosity starting to surface again. "Was it any good?"

"Most of my comrades have said her cooking is good," 2B replied. "But personally, I wouldn't know. I've never tried it."

"Huh? But…2B if she was offering it, don't you think it's rude to—"

"Pod, what are the remaining items on the list?"

9S had a dejected look on his face. Why did his partner have to be so business oriented all the time?

"Magnesium stearate is a chemical compound that's commonly found in soaps," 042 responded. "It's possible that either members of the resistance or YoRHa posses soap bars with this compound."

"Oh, I think I might have some of that in my room back at the bunker!" said 9S.

"And I think we might have some soaps with that compound in storage as well," Popola said.

"Yeah, there's quite a few Androids here that like to rid themselves of dirt and grime," Devola added.

"Titanium dioxide is a naturally occurring oxide of titanium," 153 continued. "It is sourced from three different rocks. Ilmenite, a titanium-iron oxide mineral, commonly found in layered intrusions or heavy mineral sands ore deposits. Rutile, a mineral comprised mainly of titanium dioxide and is created as a high pressure igneous and metamorphic rock. And anatase, a mineral form of titanium dioxide, usually found as a small, isolated and sharp crystal."

"Are there any known areas that have any of those rocks?" 2B inquired.

"Negative," 153 answered. "However, there is a chance that ilmenite could be found in the desert."

"…Better than nothing I guess," 2B conceded.

"Well…there's also the factory," 9S added. "There are large cauldrons in there. Maybe there's some rutile there that was being used to manufacture stronger metal for the Machines? It's a long shot, but I think it's worth looking."

"Unit 9S's hypothesis may be correct," 042. "With the Machine Life Forms gaining their own intelligence, the use of stronger metals in their construction may be imminent."

"Whoa, hold on, what?" Anemone said. "The Machines are becoming intelligent? As in self-aware intelligent?"

9S sighed. "Long story. We'll explain it once this is done. Pod, please continue."

"The gelatin should require the least amount of effort to obtain," 042 continued on. "It is a colorless and tasteless water-soluble protein prepared from collagen, which is the main structural protein found in animal connective tissue. Gelatin is created when the collagen is boiled."

"Okay, so that should be easy enough," 9S said. "There's plenty of moose and boars out in Relic City to hunt down. What's next?"

"Pharmaceutical glaze is an alcohol-based solution of various food-grade shellac," 153 explained.

"What's shellac?" 2B asked.

"Shellac is a resin secreted by a female gender of the lac, an insect species. These are commonly found on the trees of India and Thailand forests," 153 continued.

"What?!" 9S exclaimed. "Come on! We have to go all the way there to get that stuff?!"

"We don't have that kind of time," 2B agreed.

"Well…" Jackass started. "There is a forest beyond Relic City. With Earth's ecosystem all screwed up due to its rotation axis coming to a grinding halt, the lacs might have migrated over here."

"…alright, better than having to go overseas," 9S commented.

"Simeticone is an anti-floating agent that is used to reduce excessive gas in the human body," 042 spoke. "It is mixed with silicon dioxide."

"Silicon…is that another form of silica?" 9S asked.

"Negative," 042 clarified. "Silicon dioxide is an alternative name for silica. The chemical formula is the same."

"Okay, so we need silica for two things now," 9S stated. "This is turning out to be more complicated than it should be. What's next?"

"Two compounds remain," 153 answered. "FD&C Red 40 and FD&C Blue No. 1. Common names are Allura Red AC and Brilliant Blue FCF. They are types of food coloring."

"22B again, probably," 9S said. "Anything else?"

"Negative," 153 responded. "That is all of the materials that are required for the drug, Mexitil."

"Okay, so let's review here," Anemone spoke. "Ingredients that we might have are dried corn for corn starch, soap for magnesium, and red and blue food coloring. What we need to do some scavaging for are silica, titanium dioxide, collagen for gelatin, and shellac for pharmecutical glaze. Jackass, exactly how much of this stuff do you need?"

"A lot," came the reply. "This guy's gonna need to take at least two pills everyday."

"For how long?"

"The fuck should I know? Until he wakes up. And God knows how long that's going to take. So I'm gonna need as much as you can find me."

There was a bit of a pause before Devola spoke up.

"That's a lot of stuff to get," Devola stated. "And considering the state the human's in, I doubt we're going to have a lot of time to get them."

"Devola's right," 2B said. "We'll have to split up and search all the various locations if we want to gather the materials quickly."

"I can check around here for any soap and corn," Anemone said. "Devola, Popola, can you help me out by checking the storage site out in th city?"

"Sure," Popola replied.

"I can head to the Destert and see if I can find some silica and maybe some ilminite. But one of you guys should check out the factory for rutile just in case I come up short," Jackass offered, the last part directed at the two YoRHa models.

"Will do." 2B affirmed.

"Actually...I should probably do that," 9S offered. "I've memorized structure since I've been there more than 2B has, so I have a fair idea of where some rutile might be. And besides, one of us needs to go hunting down some animals for the collagen. That shouldn't be too big of an issue for 2B."

"Those moose are pretty fast 9S," 2B countered. "It would make more sense to hunt them as a pair."

"It shouldn't be that hard if you use some animal bait. Just lure them in and then kill them. Easy as pie."

2B arched her eyebrow. "What?"

"It's a...human expression I picked up in the archives. Don't know why it relates to pie."

"The infinite number?" Jackass asked. "How the hell would that be easy?"

"No, no, not pi as in P-I. Pie as in P-I-E. A human pastry food."

"9S, focus," 2B ordered, trying to get her partner back on track. Honnestly, his curiosity was something that she would always find endearing about him, but sometimes he could be such a child.

9S once again had a dejected face. "S-sorry..."

"You do have a point though. Separating to get the respective materials would be efficient. Though, who will go get th shellac? The forest is uncharted territory."

"And that brings me to my next point," 9S added. "We're going to need some help..."

 **...**

AN: A lot of sciencey stuff in this. I actually had to do some research about the different chemicals that make up Mexitil and where they originate from. Lots of tabs open on my browser for that. It's probably going to be one more chapter till we get back to the present with Sam, so you'll have to be patient for just biiiiiit longer. Until next time, STAY TUNED!

 **...**

 **One Week Earlier**

"Okay, so...let me get this straight..." A2 began. "You're a human who can use magic and your name is literally the number Three, and you're a floating, talking, magic book. And to top it all off, both of you are from the past, one of you from about ten thousand years, and the other about eight thousand. That right?"

"Essentially, yes," Three replied. "But you sound skeptical. May I ask what you find bothersome about our claims?"

"Well for starters, how about the fact that humans are extinct?" A2 replied, making no attempt to hide the irritation in her voice. "They have been for several thousand years, way WAY before the Machines ever showed up. They fucking LIED to us about everything. This whole war is a goddamn sham. And magic? Seriously? What kind of dumbass do you take me for?"

"You're talking to a floating book who can talk back," Three spoke. "And, I can make my weapons disappear into a pocket dimension, just as you can."

"News flash kiddo," A2 retorted. "Anyone can do that here. Anyone with YoRHa tech that is."

"Your…ha…?" The book, whom identified himself as Grimoire Weiss, repeated.

"The…organization I was with…before I found out the truth…" It was evident that there was sorrow in A2's voice when she spoke.

"If I may interject for a moment," Weiss spoke. "You said the year was 11945, correct?"

"Yeah," A2 replied. "Why?"

"Hmmmmm…so all the Replicants would have died out from the Black Scrawl…which means the Gestalts are all dead too…humanity really is extinct then…" It was evident that there was some sorrow in his voice. For what, no one had a clue. Actually…

"The hell are Replcants and…Geh-shtalts?" A2 asked.

If Weiss could, he'd raise and eyebrow in confusion. "You…don't know?"

"Why would I? It's the first time I've ever heard those words."

"Hmmmm…tell me, this "war" and "Machines" that you speak of…what exactly has been going on these last few millennia?"

A2 sighed. "Alright, I'll play along. The version I was told when I was first activated was that aliens had invaded the planet and had created these rusty heaps of scrap called Machine Lifeforms to do their dirty work. The humans basically got slaughtered in their efforts to fight the invaders, and what was left of them migrated to the moon."

"Humans on the moon?" Three asked, rather bewildered. She had never imagined such a feat were possible. Hell, she never even considered _trying_ to achieve it. However... "As interesting as that sounds, there's one thing I'm not quite sure I understand. What's an...Alien, I think you called it?

"I believe she is refering old world term that was used mostly to describe a being of extra-terrestrial origins," Weiss explained.

"Extra-terrestrial?"

"Simply put, aliens are beings from another planet that's not the one we are on."

Three's eyes widened. "There are other planets?!"

"Well...yes, but as as far as I'm aware, there has been no proof that aliens exist. There have been theories but most have just deemed them as urban myths." Weiss then turned to A2. "And frankly I find the notion of it all rather preposterous."

"Says the guy who claims magic is a thing."

Three just sighed. How ignorant was this girl?

"You said that these...Machines...have done all of the grunt work for their creators?" Weiss asked, ignoring A2's backsass. "Have you ever seen these so-calls aliens in the flesh?"

A2 chuckled. "I wish. Would love to slaughter them and look 'em in the eye while I do it."

"Then how do you know they actually exist?"

"Because I've seen the wreckage of their mother ships. Not exactly something the humans could design. Trust me, I've been around since the start of the 14th Machine War, so I would know."

"14th?" Three echoed. "When did the first start?"

A2 pursed her lips as she thought for a bit. "Don't remember the exact date...it was thousands of years before I was created...but I do remember that it was in early 5000s."

"What?!" Weiss exclaimed. "That's absolutely absurd! Are you trying to tell us that this war against these extra-terrestrials and their mechanical machinations have raged on for several thousand years! That is utter film flam! The war efforts would no doubtedly have died out, resources exhausted, morale diminished! Most wars last years, that I know, but millennia? Impossible I say."

"I quite agree," Three said. "Eventually people would tire of such an arduous war. And besides...didn't you say humans were extinct? This story completely contradicts what you said about your disbelief that I was human."

"Getting to that," A2 explained. "Like I said, the whole 'humans being on the moon' thing was the version I was told when I was first activated. That my sole purpose was to fight the invaders and reclaim the planet for humanity. That's why we Androids exist. It's what we were created for.'Glory to Mankind.' What a joke. It wasn't until three years ago that I found out the truth..." A2 paused a bit before continuing.

"Mankind went extinct ages before the 1st Machine War ever started..."

There was dead silence. Three made small gasp at hearing this. All of mankind gone...? But how...? Why? And these...Androids...they fought for a cause...that didn't exist...?

Weiss wasn't nearly as shocked as Three. He had basically figured it out that the humans were long since dead when he learned about the year he had just woken up to. Hell, the humans may as well have been dead the moment they decided to have their souls ripped out of their bodies and placed in surrogates. But even so...this? A war that has no meaning? The very thought of it was utter madness.

"So you see, I have a very good reason to believe that you're not human," A2 continued. "The actual reason the organization I was with, YoRHa, was created, was to keep the lie going! My comerades...my unit...they died for what?! Some fucking glorified fairy tale?! It's total bullshit! I was the sole survivor of my last battle when I was still with YoRHa...I can still hear there screams...so I decided, enough is enough. I left...and I made a vow to destroy every last Machine on this planet. It's their fault...YoRHa...my friends...this war...all of it! I would never have been created if they never came to this planet! I...would never have to...feel this pain..."

A2 couldn't bear it anymore. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. For the first time in a long time, she was starting to cry. She couldn't remember the last time she had done so. But...telling her pain to someone...instead of bottling it inside...there was some relief in it...she didn't know why...

Weiss, as he watched the Android fight with all her might against her own sorrow, felt it was time to speak his part. This girl deserves some closure.

"Does anyone know _how_ humans went extinct?"

"No," A2 replied. "That's the one thing I don't think the Commander has been able to figure out."

"Well then," Weiss began. "I do believe I can shed some light on that. And simultaneously prove that magic does in fact exist."

A2 scoffed. "Sure. Whatever."

Clearly she didn't believe that it did. No matter. "Now...where to begin...I don't remember exactly when it started or how...but I do know that this world started to fall into madness decades before I was born...as a human..."

A2 looked at the tome in disbelief once again. "What?"

Weiss sighed. "You may want to take a seat...this story is quite long..."

 **...**

AN: X1 fans, rejoice! Come next week, you too shall discover why this game is highly praised!

…

VOICE CAST

2B – Kira Buckland

9S – Kyle McCarley

A2 – Cherami Leigh

Pod 042 – D.C. Douglas

Pod 153 – Abby Trott

Pod 106 – Cynthia Marcucci

Devola – Eden Riegel

Popola – Eden Riegel

Anemone – Erica Lindbeck

Jackass – Amanda Celline Miller

Three – Mela Lee

Grimoire Weiss – Liam O' Brien


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Where Do I Even Start…**

"A human? Impossible. They are all extinct."

"And yet the information that Jacque uploaded to us before his demise proves otherwise."

"But how? Where did he come from?"

"Unclear. According to Jacque, the boy has no prior knowledge about the Machine Wars, Machines, Androids, or YoRHa."

"…have _they_ been made aware of this?"

"Adam and Eve? Eve is still a child, and has yet to fully comprehend his existence. Adam on the other hand…his over compulsive fascination with humans and their nature, their culture…it is…troubling. So, no. They have not been made aware. And they should not be. Not yet."

"Those were not the individuals in question…"

"… _them_...we still do not trust them…we have access to YoRHa…and we make sure the project goes as planned…yet what happens to us once that is done…?"

"To _them_ , we are a means to an end…we shall remain silent to them about this."

"But _they_ will learn of this, eventually…and when _they_ do, what then?"

"When _they_ do, it will be their issue, and not ours. The human's existence, and his demise are inconsequential to us."

"But he is a variable. What if he finds out the truth? He was quite infuriated to be in an unfamiliar surrounding. He will want revenge of sorts. He could become a threat to us."

"Which should only concern us when the matter arises. As he is now…he is weak."

"A state in which we should kill him in."

"No. For now, let the androids do as they please with their…'rescue operation.' The human will still be in a weakened state when he awakes. Rather than terminating him, we shall observe him. Compare how his behavior coincides with the records of Project Gestalt. And if his actions afterwards become unpredictable…terminate him."

"…Agreed."

…

"Red and blue food coloring?" 22B asked. "Yeah, I've got them. Why? You've never showed interest in the culinary arts before."

"I'm not," 2B replied.

"Then why come all the way back to the Bunker to ask me for some?"

2B took a moment to think about her response. Should she really let another Android know?

…

2B took a deep breath. "We need it to help save a human life."

…

…

…

"Sorry, I just want to make sure my hearing isn't short circuiting…what?"

"You've heard of the Spatial Anomaly, right?" 2B asked. 22B nodded. "9S and I were tasked with investigating it. The point of origin was located in the abandoned factory. However, upon arriving at the factory, we found…an actual human."

There was a moment of silence before 22B spoke. "2B, if this is some kind of joke, it's not a good attempt."

"When have you ever known me to joke about something like this, 22B?"

"…Well, frankly I don't know you all that well. I've only been with you on one mission, and that was four months ago," 22B stated bluntly. "But…from what my impressions of you were…no…I don't think you'd joke about this…but even so…a human? Why would there be a human on the Earth?"

2B, after hearing this, wasn't really sure if she should tell 22B what she had heard from 106. It's not that she didn't doubt what the pod had told her…but to learn that the human's lack of knowledge about the Machine Wars was a little…disconcerting. But they wouldn't be able to know more unless they asked him directly. So for now, 2B decided it was best to play dumb.

"No idea," she said. "When we found him he was passed out. He had his right arm cut off. Currently he's in a coma."

22B face, or rather what was visible of it, flinched. Though her visor hid it, her eyes were widened in shock. "What?! How?!"

"He was in a fight with seven Machine Lifeforms."

" _What?!_ What the hell was he thinking?! Does he not realize how dangerous those things are?!"

"That's not all…we found 11B's pod."

22B's face went from shock to confusion. "106? Is it still active?"

"Yes. That's actually another reason why I'm here. The Commander wanted 9S and I to report to her directly about our findings before I came to see you. As a cross reference for anything that 106 may or may not remember once it's fully restored. It was…pretty damaged when we found it. I'm surprised it was even able to function at all and give the human support."

"Ah, protocol 221…that makes sense…along with the Commander asking for a private audience. Information like that's pretty sensiti—wait. Should you even be telling me any of this?"

"I told the Commander that we would need help . She said to 'trust only those that you know could keep quiet about this.' According to her, the Council's head staff are already in a full-blown panic attack on the moon. And as for the Bunker and the Resistance Camp…well, I assume it won't be too long before rumors start to spread. 9S already had a few people ask him about the 'messed up Android,' as they called it, that we brought in earlier today."

"Well…I suppose that's inevitable…but if it's assistance that you need, then I primrose you can trust me to keep quiet about it. Still, food coloring? How is that going to help a human?"

"It's part of an ingredient for a chemical compound. We're trying to recreate a medicine that will help get his heartbeat back to normal."

"…Um…you're going to have to explain that to me a little better. First off, what's a heartbeat? Is it something similar to a Black Box?"

"Well…sort of. Apparently the heart is a very vital part of the human body. It's the blood supplier. And if it stops working, or if it's removed, the human would die."

"…Oh. Okay, so something's wrong with his heart then?"

"Not necessarily…it's still working, but it's still slowing down. He went into shock after losing his arm, and if we don't get his heart producing the right amount of blood to his body, he won't wake up for a while."

"…Okay, so now I understand why you need the food coloring. What I don't understand is how that's going to help?"

"No clue, I'm a soldier, not a chemist. Jackass is the one who's going to be making the medicine."

"Ah—wait, you're working with _her?!_ "

"She's the only one who knows anything about chemical compounds. We kind of need her."

"Seriously?"

"I don't like it either, but we're short on both time and options."

22B let out an exasperated sigh. "Well…if she can make something like the E-Drug…I guess she's your best bet."

" _Our_ best bet, 22B," 2B corrected. "We need your help with more than just food coloring?"

"…Why?"

"This drug requires various materials, and we don't have a lot of time, considering how small the circle of trust is. 9S is off at the factory gathering rutile, Anemone, Popola, and Devola are trying to find corn starch and soap in the Resistance storage, and I have to go hunt down animals for gelatin, and Jackass is in the desert to get silica and liminite. So we need someone to go the forest to get some shellac."

"And you're hoping I can do that?"

"We need as much help as we can get. And you're the only one other than 11B I can trust with this information."

22B stood in thought for a moment before answering. "Alright...but on one condition."

"Name it."

"I tell my team about this."

…

"Why?" 2B asked.

"Forests tend to have a lot of trees in them, so whatever this shellac looks like, it's going to be difficult for more than one Android to find it. And this isn't something that a Battle Unit normally does. I can understand why you chose me to do this other than another Scanner, they'd never shut up about it. But if time isn't on our side for this, I need my team. We'll cover more ground that way."

"But…"

"They can be trusted, 2B. I promise. You know how 8B is."

2B thought this over for a bit. She really didn't like the idea of having more people than necessary in on this secret. What if they found out the truth? What if…no, she wouldn't let them end up line…Nines…and besides, this whole situation contradicted everything she was told. She and 22B had only been through a few fights, but from what she saw of her comrade, she was dedicated. She could be trusted. And if 22B trusted her team, then 2B could trust not them, but rather 22B's judgment.

"Alright," 2B relented. "But this information must be kept confidential."

"I understand," 22B said. "By the way, where's your visor? And…what happened to your uniform?"

"Soaked in the human's blood."

"…why?"

"9S and I had to stop the bleeding from the human's arm socket. But both of our visors weren't enough. So…I had to improvise."

"With the uniform? Geez, I'm surprised the Commander didn't read you the riot act for damaging YoRHa tech."

"She said the actions of 9S and I were commendable in the attempt at saving the life of one of our creators."

"'Creators…' heh…sounds slightly religious when you put it like that…"

2B sighed. "Yeah…" she said as she turned to walk out of 22B's room. "I guess…it does…"

As the door closed behind her comrade, 22B couldn't help but ponder how…uncharacteristically somber 2B just sounded. Clearly discovering a human had loosened her rather stern disposition somewhat.

But what was bothering 22B more than that…

"A _live_ human…"

None of this made sense. This was the exact opposite of what her and 64B had learned from 8B. Had she glossed over something by mistake?

"How the hell are they going to take this…"

…

"This is such bullshit!" 64B yelled.

"Keep your tone down!" 8B chastised. "You want every possible Machine Lifeform in earshot to come running in our direction?"

8B and her team were walking through the forest looking for shellac. Needless to say it was quite frustrating for all of them. Not only was the shellac proving to be very frustrating to find, both 8B and 64B were having difficulty processing the information 22B had presented them.

"I'm less worried about the Machines this time," 64B responded. "Those we can handle. In fact I'd like nothing more than to use them as an outlet to vent."

"You're acting more irritable than usual," 8B observed. "Why is that?"

"Gee, I dunno," 64B replied sarcastically. "Maybe it's because we just heard from 22B of all people, who heard from 2B of all people, that there is a _human_ on the planet. A real _HUMAN,_ 8B. AFTER, may I remind you, we found out that there isn't a single damn one of them left on the moon, _or_ the Earth. Does this NOT raise a few red flags for either of you?"

8B took a deep breath and let out a long sigh before responding. "64B, this paranoid behavior doesn't suit you."

"I'm not paranoid, 8B, I'm trying to look at this practically," 64B defended. "Look, all I'm saying is that the timing is way too convenient. You're the one that found out that the humans went extinct centuries ago, that the only thing on the moon is a glorified fossil, AND about the FUCKING EXECUTIONER UNITS! That knowledge alone is more than enough to brand us as traitors!"

"But the only people who know that we've learned this are us," 8B countered.

"You don't know that!"

"2S was very discrete in his hacking. He's the best out of all the Scanners."

" _You. Don't. KNOW THAT._ How would any of us know that 2S didn't leave some sort of trail behind that the Commander DIDN'T pick up? How would HE even know? 12S was the better one before him. He thought he left no trail when he tried to hack into a Machine Lifeform Server back in Québec, and guess what? The Machines STILL managed to track him down from it and infected him with a logic virus!"

"But that was the Machines," 8B countered. "This is YoRHa we're talking about."

"Who have kept a nasty secret locked away for millennia! There's no way they would ever want any of this to get out! Wake up 8B! A sole human alive on the planet?! It's a trap! It has to be!"

"U-ummm…" 22B started uneasily, not really one for arguments in her team. "I…don't think 2B would lie to us about something like this…"

"Oh what would you know," 8B backhanded. "You're just a Defense Unit pretending to be a Battle Unit."

That last comment made 22B wince.

"64B! ENOUGH!" 8B shouted, her voice echoing through the Forest.

That outburst made 64B stop her rant. 8B didn't yell often, but when she did, it always meant that she was really upset.

"You're right about most of the things you said. This very well could be a trap. But there's also the possibility that it's not. What if 2B is telling the truth?"

"She could be an Executioner in disguise for all we know!"

"But we don't, 64B. There's a lot we don't know. Yes, we may have found out that YoRHa is keeping a secret. But we don't know why. Think of it this way. If there is a chance that a human is alive on the Earth, then maybe we can use this to find out how the humans went extinct. We can force answers out of the Commander with this human."

64B thought this over for a moment before answering. "Okay fine. But what if it's a ruse?"

"If it turns out we're walking into a trap," 8B answered. "We'll deal with that when it happens. Besides, the materials that we have to gather are a bit too elaborate for a trap. Don't you think?"

With that, 8B continued to walk forward, leaving 64B and 22B behind.

64B sighed exhaustedly. Never in her life has she ever been this on edge before.

"64B…" 22B spoke meekly.

64B turned to look at her comrade. "22B…I'm…sorry I said what I did…I know that has a lot of bad memories for you…"

"It's…it's okay…" 22B replied. "I still hate myself for it…" She then started to walk, following her leader.

64B took a moment to mentally berate herself for how immature she acted before following her teammates.

…

…

Unbeknownst to them, a certain Android with long white and unkempt hair was watching them from the trees above, scoffing at their bickering.

"A live human. Heh, no shit it's a trap."

…

The makeshift ICU that served as the human's quarters was crowded. Within the past half hour, Android after Android had burst into the room, carrying various materials that Jackass required to make a remedy for what ailed the human male.

"And you're sure you got all the rutile you could find," Jackass asked a certain Scanner.

"Yeah," 9S replied. "My guess was right. The Machines had a fairly large supply of rutile. Even managed to see a few machines being built with them. Black armor, red accents…made a document of what I saw and sent it to Command."

"But you still got the Rutile with no problems right?"

"Well…I…did get spotted…by a Stubby…but I hacked him before he could call for help."

"Nines, considering what you were designed for, it's coming across to me that you're not good at it," Jackass remarked.

"Hey, I'm good at scouting," 9S defended.

"Scouting entails keeping a low profile," Jackass described.

"Well, as you're so fond of saying, 'Shit happens.'"

"As were the humans, if their literature indicates anything."

"You read books?" 2B asked incredulously.

"I got knowledge of heart medicine from one didn't I?"

"I think she meant narratives," 8B said.

"What makes you think I never read those?"

"Because you don't strike us as what the humans call a novelist?" Popla replied.

"What, I've got hobbies."

"You like blowing shit up," 64B quipped.

"That's _one_ of my hobbies."

"We're getting off track here," Devola spoke up. "Do you have everything or don't you?"

"Well," Jackass replied as she pulled out a note pad and pen from her satchel. "Colloidal silicon dioxide, check. Corn starch, check. Magnesium setrate, etcetera, etcetera…check, check, and check. Yeah, I got everything."

"How much of that medicine can you make out of that?" 22B asked.

"Dunno…I'll have to see how much I have left after I'm done with the first two pills," Jackass answered. "I'll let you guys know then. It would however help if I had someone stay here to help me."

"We'll help," Popola offered.

"Actually, I would rather if 2B helped me," Jackass insisted.

"Excuse me?" Said Android asked, a bit confused.

"Umm…why do you need her specifically?" 9S asked.

"Cuz I said, kid," Jackass replied bluntly.

"But…wouldn't the twins—" 22B began, but was then cut off by Jackass.

"The twins, no offence, aren't the best when it comes to a security detail."

There was silence in the room for a moment before 2B spoke.

"Why?"

"Because shit happens, 2B. What if one of the androids here get a little too curious? Someone's gotta keep them away if they get too anxious. And say in the worst case scenario some Machines show up?"

"Why would they come here for him?" 9S asked.

"Is that a trick question?" Jackass back sassed. "He's human, genius. If the Machines didn't figure out what he is back at the factory, trust me, it's only a matter of time until they do."

"Uh…how, exactly, would they do that?" 64B asked. "They're Machines. They're not detectives. They can't even form a line of thought."

"Not according to 2B and 9S's encounter in the desert with two humanoid looking Machines," 8B said.

Everyone's attention went over to 8B with surprised looks, the majority of them hidden behind blindfolds.

"Yeah, Whitey told me all about it," Jackass said. "Along with that one Machine that cut off this guy's arm." She gestured over to Sam's sleeping body. "According to her, these two, and the pod the human had with him at the time, the machines are getting smart. Like REALLY smart. The one smart Machine that this guy fought? According to 106, it found out he was human. Meaning that some, if not all Machines, have heat sensors in them."

"…Why would that matter?" 64B asked.

"Because live human bodies generate heat," Devola answered. "And Androids don't."

"Yup," Jackass confirmed. "Which means if, and hopefully this is a big if, that information somehow got passed on to the other Machines, they're gonna know what to look for. And considering that, according White, 2B and Nines fought some very, VERY human looking Machines…that tells me they've taken a very disturbing interest in humanity. So I'm not taking any chances. I need someone capable of fighting off an army of Machines in the worst case scenario. And 2B is the one that fits the bill."

"What about me?" 9S asked, with slight concern in his voice. "I'm her partner. Shouldn't I be with her watching the human?"

"I do need you, but not in the same room," Jackass replied. "If any Machines come to the camp, I need a lookout. And since you Scanners are good at keeping yourself scarce, I need someone who can gather info and stay out of sight. Also, some reconnaissance on the side wouldn't hurt either. See if any of the Machine's behavior has changed regarding this latest development."

9S opened his mouth to voice a counterargument…only to find that the words were formless. He didn't want to leave 2B's side. Not again. Not since he heard her voice falter. But…Jackass, unfortunately, _did_ have a point.

"I'll take that silence as an 'okay.'" Jackass said. 9S nodded in affirmation. "Alrighty then. Sooooo…everyone but 2B, please get lost. I got a lot of shit to do and I don't like having an audience."

Everyone just sighed at Jackass's tactfulness shortly after they started to leave, save for 2B. Popola, however, turned to Jackass one last time and said, "I really hope you know what you're doing."

"What, you don't trust me to do my job right?" the Android in question quipped.

"No," Popola replied bluntly. "But you're the best we've got outside of YoRHa." And with that, the red haired closed the door behind her, leaving 2B, Jackass, and Sam alone in the room.

"Ouch," Jackass replied. "Didn't expect the shy one to have some bite."

2B slightly smirked at the remark.

"Okay," Jackass said, as she began writing down notes for medicine recipe. "So what's up with you?"

"Hm?" 2B responed.

"C'mon 2B, I didn't just ask you to stick around as a security detail," Jackass continued. "You've been looking a little aloof since you brought that human in…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," 2B said, almost too quickly.

"I'm not blind, 2B. At least not when you don't have your visor on. I saw you constantly eyeing the human with disbelief in your eyes."

Jackass could swear she saw 2B's eyebrows shoot up behind her visor. But said Android didn't look Jackass's way, attempting to hide the fact that the mad scientist had struck a cord.

"Look, you don't wanna talk about it, I won't bug ya. But I've been in this war longer than you have, kid. I know the face of uncertainty when I see it."

Silence in the room continued to hang as 2B sifted through her thoughts as Jackass worked on the medicine. She wasn't expecting Jackass of all people to pick up on how she was feeling…or rather, how she was acting. But then again, like the mad scientist said, she _had_ been around during the war for much longer than either 2B or 9S. Or _any_ of YoRHa for that matter.

However, as much as 2B didn't want to say it, for many reasons, proving Jackass right being one of them, she _was_ feeling uncertain since she found the human. Part of her was thinking this was too good to be true. A human? Alive? How was that even possible? Did the Commander lie to her? Was there more about the fate of the human race she knew than she let on? Was there more about YoRHa that she knew?

Come to think of it, what _is_ YoRHa's purpose if not to take back the planet for mankind? What was the point of fighting the Machines? What was the point of all of her fellow comrade's deaths in the past?

…

What was the point of her being an Executioner?

…

What was the point of being created in general?

…

What was the point of the Androids altogether?

What's the point of even existing if there's nothing to exist for? No purpose? No goal?

2B knew that everything she was fighting for was a lie. But…for whatever reason, these thoughts never really sunk into her…not until now. Actually, she never really remembered if there was ever a time when she sincerely questioned her duties before now. Well…maybe not since the first time…she had to execute…

2B thought back to one extremely infamous Android known as A2. An early prototype of the current YoRHa models. 2B essentially was a copy of her, with some variances here and there. Officially she's known as a deserter. And YoRHa's policy against deserters in their organization is termination. The reasons for A2's desertion were classified.

Except for 2B. She knew why she had deserted. It was for the same reason why she would time and time again be forced to carry out her duties as an Executioner.

A2 knew a truth that she shouldn't.

So she ran.

She turned back on a life that 2B genuinely thought there was no escape from.

And she was very envious of her for that.

" _A2…"_ 2B thought to herself. _"I wish I had the capacity…to feel even the slightest amount of courage that you possess…"_

…

 **One Week Later**

"What the hell is all this stuff?" Zero wondered aloud as she and Jackass were going through the boxes that came with her back at the Resistance outpost that was set up just outside of the desert.

"I was hoping you would tell me," Jackass replied. "These showed up with you."

"These aren't mine," Zero replied. "These…crates, whatever they are, they have the name Sam written on them, and I don't know any one by the name of Sam. Hell, I don't even know what these crates are _made_ out of."

"Mostly paper," Jackass answered.

Zero looked over the closest box again, then touched them, feeling their texture. "Doesn't feel like any kind of paper I've ever written on."

"Well, mostly it's made from paperboard, but those were also made from paper. Back in the day, humans used to use this kind of stuff all the time for various things. Packing, storage, shipping goods and products, etc."

"These the same humans that are on the moon?" Zero asked incredulously.

"Look, you don't believe me, that's your problem," Jackass stated. "But the longer you stick around us, the more your gonna learn that everything I just told you is a fact."

"Tch, sure," Zero said. _"I'll believe it when I see it,"_ she mentally added.

Jackass continued to rummage through the box that was titled "Sam's Video Games." She had heard these kinds of things were pretty popular entertainment for the humans before the war, but she never actually knew what they looked like. And Sam apparently had a lot.

"BlazBlue…Fire Emblem…Mass Effect Trilogy…Kingdom Hearts…Mega Man…geeze this is a lot of interesting stuff…"

"I'll admit, the art is…definitely intriguing…" Zero said as she went through the box labled "Sam's DVD's & Blu-Rays." The majority of them were DVDs and only a few were Blu-Rays. "But what the hell's up with the…circle stuff in these….things…what the hell are these made out of anyway? The…package is so…smooth…"

"That's plastic kiddo," Jackass answered.

Zero, irritated with the nickname constantly thrown at her, decided for the moment not to ask what this "plastic" was exactly, dropped the case she was holding and shot a glare at the eye-patched woman. "Call me that again, and I'll run you through." That last part was followed by Zero's sword being summoned in her hand.

Jackass gave Zero a sideways glance, looking at the blade in her hand. The look in Zero's crimson eyes was a look that Jackass was all too familiar with. Loss, grief, and suffering; all hidden behind the mask of a stoic, unshakable resolve. She had seen that look in the Commander a few times in the past, and even more from Anemone in the recent months. Hell, she had plenty of comrades who did both good and poor imitations of that look countless times in the war.

However, Jackass figured now wasn't a good time to comment on it. Clearly, Zero was just trying to blow off steam out of sheer frustration, so pissing her off any further wouldn't be wise. Jackass knew how to pick her fights from experience. That, and…

"I'd put that down if I were you," Jackass commented.

"Or what," Zero seethed. "You think you can take me?"

"Me? Nah, I don't pick fights I know I can't win. Those two of there on the other hand…"

Zero was about to follow the direction in which Jackass's hand was pointing behind her, but then…

BANG!

CLANG!

Completely out of left field, a gunshot rang out across the canyon walls of the Desert entrance, followed by a bullet striking Zero's sword. Zero was rarely ever caught off guard by anything, but the complete abruptness of the attack and the noise, cased her to flinch briefly. However, that split moment was enough to cause Zero to loosen her grip on her sword, causing it to fly a few inches out of her hand and onto the ground.

"Okay, who the fu—" Zero didn't finish that sentence as she turned around to view her assailants. What she saw…well, she wasn't really sure what she was expecting. There were two of them. Both were wearing real fancy looking black dresses that wouldn't look out of place at either a ball or a funeral. They both had white hair. One was short and very messy, the other was shoulder length and more straight. Black blindfolds obscured their eyes. The one with the messy hair was pointing a rather large looking metal…pole or…crossbow of some sort at her. A thin trail of smoke was seen from the front end of the strange weapon. As for the other one, there was a large sheet of black metal on her back. Was it supposed to be a shield of some sort?

"Back away from Jackass, outsider!" The girl with the strange weapon shouted.

"Okay," Zero started. "Word of advice. I'm not sure what you just did, but that was clearly an attack. Try that again, and you're gonna regret it."

"That was a warning shot, honey," The girl said irritably. She lifted the strange weapon up and pulled a handle on its right side.

CLICK.

A small cylinder shaped object was ejected out the left side of the weapon and landed on the pavement with a tinker.

"And it's the only one you're going to get," the girl continued. "The next one I fire's going right between your eyes."

Zero chuckled in amusement. "I'd like to see you try."

"U-um…47G…" the other girl said rather timidly… "I-I don't…think we should…"

"Drop the gun 47G," Jackass cut in before thing's got out of hand. "She's fine."

The tom-boy girl now named 47G, a name that, in Zero's mind, sounded really strange, seemed to glance over at Jackass. It was hard for Zero to tell with the blind fold on the girl's face. How did she even know where to look? Hell, how did she even fire…whatever that thing was without being able to see?

"Fine?" 47G asked incredulously. "Ten seconds ago she was threatening you."

"Trust me, if she actually understood what an Android was, she'd know she'd be in for a workout."

Zero looked back at Jackass with a condescending glare, ignoring the foreign word "Android" for now. "And if you knew what an Intoner was, you'd know that a common soldier like you is no match for me."

"A human, probably," Jackass replied. "But I'm a bit more sturdier than that. And them, more so." Jackass pointed to the two strange girls dressed in black. "I don't know what an 'Intoner' is, sure. So I won't pretend like I do. But from your confidence, I'd say you're stronger than the average human."

"Better fuckin' believe it," Zero retorted.

Jackass just chuckled. "I'm starting to like you." Jackass then glanced over to the other two girls. "Okay, 47G, you can lay down your arms."

47G seemed to furrow her brow. Once again, it was hard for Zero to tell because of those weird blindfolds. Was it some kind of fashion trend here? Two would definitely find that interesting, if a little bizarre.

"Are you sure, Jackass?" 47G asked.

"C'mon, have I ever given you a reason not to doubt me?"

"U-um…well…there was…that one time we were investigating a derelict oil tanker in the Pacific Ocean that Machines had reversed engineered…" the meek girl said.

"Yeah, and blew us up with it," 47G added.

"You uploaded your back ups to the bunker right?" Jackass asked. "So you survived. No harm done."

"B-but it was a waste of YoRHa resources!" The meek girl exclaimed a bit more defensively.

"50D, what have I told you about details?"

"U-um…'wh-who needs them…?'" the girl now known as 50D.

"And I replied by calling you a lazy ass," 47G chimed in.

"Hey, I'm still alive aren't I?" Jackass said.

47G just gave an exasperated sigh. The…strange weapon in her hands disappeared in to particles of light and reappeared on her back. "Okay, fine. Have it your way. But I'm keeping my gun loaded."

"Fine with me," Jackass replied. "Just as long as you keep your trigger finger in check. I'd rather not have to explain to White why the second human we've found ended up having a bullet wound in the head."

Though the blindfolds hid it, 47G and 50D's eyes went wide with shock.

"She…she's human…?" 50D asked. "As in…she's from the moon?"

"And what do you mean by 'second human?' You found one before?" 47G added.

"Oh, right," Jackass muttered. "You guys are still in the dark about that last part."

At hearing this, Zero turned around and gave Jackass a very stern look. "Okay, you know what? I'm sick of people saying shit I don't understand. When are you going to start making sense of all this crap for me?"

Jackass held Zero's gaze for a bit, then looked at the two YoRHa models. Now was probably a good time as any she supposed. Zero would probably handle the fallout better now than later. Jackass then took in a long sigh before she spoke. "Where do I even start…"

…

AN: JESUS CHRIST, that took way longer than it should have. Sorry about the long wait, but this chapter has been giving me major writer's block. I was having issues on how to make events in this flow. I have an idea for how events following this chapter will pan out, but this one chapter was baring me from it.

I also wanted to try and work on my other stories too, but hit blocks with those two. Needed to take some time to get my creative juices flowing again. That and RL stuff kept sidling me…again.

That being said I'm not completely satisfied with how this chapter turned out. Well…not the second half at the very least. But anyway's, this is the last chapter that Sam will be comatose. Next chapter, we'll get back into his POV. Until then…STAY TUNED.

…

 **Present**

Another fucking headache. That's what I felt when I first woke up. That was shortly followed by my entire body aching.

"Oooooohhh…fuck me…I feel like I got hit by a truck…"

"I have heard that humans tend to feel like shit after a rough time," a husky voice said.

The key word in that sentence was "human." That's what snapped me back to reality. I eyes shot wide open and I quickly turned to where I heard the voice. I was back in the same room I woke up in the first time I came around. Only this time I had guests. Two of them I was familiar with. They were the same blindfolded boy and girl dressed in black. They also had…Pods, if I'm remembering correctly that looked like 106 floating by them. But I knew they weren't. The one floating by the boy was black, like 106, but it was a lighter shade of it. And the one floating by the girl was white.

So…I guess if 106 weren't completely busted when I met it, that's how they would get around…by…floating…somehow…yeah, no way that was made with modern tech.

The other people in the room I had never seen before. They were all women. There was a girl with white hair, crimson eyes, and completely dressed in white. She had a small patch of white gauze over the bridge of her nose. She looked extremely pissed, glaring daggers at me. Not sure why though.

There were also two redheads wearing the same outfit. One of them had wavy, rather messy hair with a white flower on the left side of her head. She also had a pretty serious look on her face. The other had straight and neatly combed hair with an identical flower on the right side of her head. Unlike her twin, her face had a softer look. It actually looked like she was a little worried.

Then there were two other women. Both of them seemed slightly older than the other people in the room. The were both dressed in a lot of rags and drab. One of them had short cut and a little disheveled black hair with an eye patch covering her right eye. The look on her face was pretty plain. Almost bored, if I had to guess.

As for the last one, She had long brown hair that went a little bit past her shoulders. The face she had only spoke one word to me: Uncertain.

I almost thought about running for the door, but then I remembered what had happened when I tried that earlier. I don't think I'd get as far as last time. Especially since…

I looked over to where my right arm would have been…

…

Yup…still gone…

If it wasn't clear to me then, it was now…

This nightmare wasn't going to end anytime soon…


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Got Something To Drink?**

 **One Week Earlier**

"You're a fucking idiot."

That's what Zero had said in response to everything that she had been told from the people walking with her through the derelict ruins of a city of some...strange design.

"U-ummmm…" 50D meekly spoke.

"That's...definitely not the reaction I was expecting," 47G added.

" _I did,"_ Jackass thought but decided to keep it to herself.

"You want me to believe that I've somehow skipped over TEN FUCKING THOUSAND MILLENIUM," Zero continued. "That I got blasted into the future."

It wasn't that Zero didn't...well, completely gave the idea some thought, especially considering that she met someone who...well, didn't claim to either be from or know the future, at least not per se. But the way Accord described the Branches...to call it time travel would VERY inaccurate, if her notes, or what little Zero could make of them, were anything to go by.

If Accord wasn't capable of doing it, or so she claimed, then Zero failed to see why it could happen to her. If she got stuck in another branch around the same time period, that thought was more flexible, given what she had dealt with in the past. But a straight jump several thousand years later? And on top of that…

"Along with these… 'aliens,' whatever the fuck that means, have come from the sky, wrecked the...world, assuming that' what 'planet' means, and then forced the humans to evacuate to the fucking MOON of all places. And to top this rediculous tale off, this war agains these…Machines or automatons or whatever the fuck they are, has been going on for THOUSANDS OF YEARS. There is NO WAY _any_ kind of war would last that long. People would get sick of it."

"We _are_ sick of it," Jackass replied. "I've been in this war since the 10th Machine War. But this planet ain't gonna save reconquer itself for mankind."

" _Tenth?"_ Zero added incredulously. "How many 'Machine Wars' have their been?"

"Right now, we're on the 14th," 47G replied.

"Ugh, you're all so full of shit."

"Look, kid," Jackass started but then was cut off by Zero.

"Stop CALLING ME THAT!" Zero had enough of this nonsense. With her anger at her boiling point, Zero summoned her sword and pointed it at Jackass, preparing to strike.

At the time she did this, 47G pointed her rifle at Zero, while 50D fumbled around with her sheild.

Jackass however was prepared. No sooner than Zero had taken out her weapon, the mad bomber had intercepted her. She dashed forward, ducking underneath Zero's sword, then struck her stomach with her palm, careflul not to apply too much force, lest she break Zero's back.

Zero wheezed heavily, not expecting the sudden action from Jackass, and dropped her sword, as she began to clutch her stomach in plain. Jackass then grabbed Zero's right arm, bent it behind her back in a way that the human arm generally isn't supposed to bend, and then slammed Zero face first into the ground, holding her in a submissive possition.

Zero yelled in pain, her arm feeling like it was about to be ripped out of her socket. She may have survived getting stabbed and mutilated multiple times when she still had the flower to regenerate her, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt still.

"J-Jackass…?!" 50D gasped, not really sure what to make of the sudden action of the Resistance Android.

47G on the other hand watched with her mouth slightly agape. She had no idea that Jackass was capable of a basic human combat technique called hand to hand. Or CQC as it was commonly refered to.

"Rgh…wh-what…the fu…rgh…" Zero tried to struggle against Jackass's grasp, but was met with a surprising ammount of resistance.

"Look, Zero, you want me to help you?" Jackass started. "Then you'd better can the attitude. You don't wanna believe anything I say, then fine, that's your problem. Can't help you with denial. But so help me God, if you're going to continue to be a brat, then I will gladly toss you back in the desert where I found you. Whitey can melt me into scrap metal for all I care."

"Whoa, what?!" 47G exclaimed.

"B-but…Jackass!" 50D cried out, horrified at what she heard. "She's a human! Her kind created us! You can't do that to her!"

"Except she keeps telling me that she's not human," Jackass countered.

"Because…urgh…I'm not…" Zero grunted. "I…lost the right…to call myself…that…a long time ago…"

Jackass held Zero down for a few more moments, then she let her go. Zero grabbed her left sholder as she rubbed it to ease the pain, if only a little. _"Something isn't right,"_ she thought. _"I'm not supposed to be this weak. I should have reacted faster to an attack like that."_ Could it have been that she doesn't have as quick reflexes as she used to because the flower was gone? She still had some residual magic within herself, that much she knew, but it wasn't as potent when she had the flower. But if the flower was gone than why was she still alive. None of this made sense to her. _"And Jackass's strenght and movements…they remind me of…"_

"Now, if you've got that worked out of your system then c'mon," Jackass said. "We're almost at the Resistance camp."

"Fine," Zero said begrudeningly. Clearly, letting her temper run wild would do her no good.

50D and 47G put away their weapons and began to follow Jackass with Zero bringing the rear, still clutching her arm.

"Okay so…" 47G began. "What the hell was that?"

"Huh?" Jackass muttered.

"The whole CQC shit," 47G answered. "I thought you used bombs to beat the shit out of things."

"I do," Jackass replied. "But she's not a machine. Whatever an 'Intoner' is, her body is clearly human enough. And since I've studied the human body a bit since our first arrival, I know the weak points of it. It's just a matter of where to strike it. Non lethaly of course."

"Wow…" 50D said in bewilderment.

"You guys keep saying this shit like you've never seen a human being before," Zero stated.

"Cuz we haven't," Jackass replied. "We don't exactly have the resources to go back and forth from the moon."

"I'm still having trouble believing that part," said the Intoner.

"You stick around long enough and you'll see proof," Jackass countered.

"Well what about you?" Zero asked. "You _look_ human, but I can sense that you're not."

Jackass gave Zero a quizical look. "What do you mean you can "sense" that we're not human?"

"I can sense life energy," Zero answered. "It's a common ability to learn as a practitioner of magic."

Jackass sighed. "This again?"

"And I sense zero life energy coming from you all," Zero continued. "The only thing I can sense from you is a lot, and I mean a LOT of magical energy. Mostly from these two." The last part was said as she pointed to 47G and 50D. Both of whom just gave Zero a very puzzled look. Or what Zero assumed to be a puzzled look, considering she couldn't see much of their face with those rediculous blindfolds. Seriously, what the hell was up with those?

"U-ummmm…" 50D really didn't understand any of what Zero was saying.

"What the hell is she talking about?" 47G asked Jackass.

The mad bomber sighed. "She thinks magic is real."

"I don't _think,_ asshole—"

" _Jack_ ass, Z. Say it right."

"I _know_ magic is real," Zero contunued, ignoring Jackass's backsass. "And whatever you guys are, I've seen one of you before. Her name was Accord."

Jackass came to a complete halt upon hearing that. She turned around and gave Zero a glare that was a mix between shock and anger. "What did you just say?"

Zero, not expecting this sort of reaction, gave a very puzzled look before ansewering, "Uhhh…Accord? What, do you know her?"

Jackass then walked over to Zero and grabbed her by the wrist and started dragging her to a nearby grass covered alleyway. Were she any ordinary human, Zero's wrist might have snapped from the iron grip she was giving her.

It still hurt though.

"OW, what f—"

"Shut up," Jackass said curtly before looking over at the two YoRHa models. "You two! Make sure we're not disturbed."

"Uhhhh…" was all 47G could say before she was interrupted.

"And no eavsdropping!"

50D and 47G just starred at Jackass as she was continuing to drag away Zero, the latter of whom was giving the former an extremely vicious glare with her crimson eyes. If looks could kill…

"U-ummm…" 50D spoke nervously. "W-what…do you think that was about…?"

47G sighed and shook her head. "With Jackass? Who knows. Probably won't make much sense, so I don't think we'll be missing much."

She didn't know how wrong she was.

…

 **Present Day**

The room was silent for a good few moments. The people across from me were just…staring. Like they were…I dunno…in awe of me or some shit…or worried about what I was going to do. Hell, _I_ was worried about what I was going to do. I thought about dashing for the door and trying to escape again for a few seconds…but with the number of people near by the door, and if my recent attempt was anything to learn from, I either wouldn't get very far and end up with another tranq in my neck, or I'd just end up dead for good this time. Honnestly, I was still amazed that I was still alive at this point. But right now, being alive was the last thing on my mind right now.

I needed a fucking explanation for this malarky.

"Okay," I started, my voice trembling with both fear and anger. "If you guys are just going to stare at me like the goddamn Mona Lisa, I guess I'll start talking."

The white haired girl with the crimson eyes and the bandage on his nose made a "tsk" noise before speaking up. "I told you he was going to be pissed."

"'Pissed?'" I repeaded before letting out a dark chuckle. "Hohoooh, boy, lady, there are no words in _any_ existing language that can describe the different kinds of absolutly _fucking livid_ I am right now. But to give you an idea, I'll summarize."

"I had gone back to sleep after another exhausting day at college, shortly after I had started the Spring Semester in my Junior year. Then, I wake up the next day to find myself in the middle of some factory that had seen better days, and I find a talking mechanical box that tells me that there's a war going on and I apparantly slept through most of it, Aliens, of all things, have invaded with their mechanical creations, and that it's gotten so bad that the rest of my kind has migrated to the effing moon, when I know for a fact that collinaization up there hasn't even reached the beta stages yet!"

"To top that off, I get fucking _ambushed_ by a bunch of overgrown children's rusty wind-up toys that were apparantly the same 'mechanical creations' the box told me these alleged aliens create. So I had to fight for fucking life, when I've never held a sword or fired a gun in my life, and I have zero combat experience, not even basic self-fucking-defense." I let out a sigh before I continued. "It was going okay for a while, but then, because I suck at this in general, I twisted my ankle, got myself pinned down by the remaining Machines that I didn't destroy, and MY GODDAM RIGHT ARM GETS CUT OFF! A PIECE OF ME IS GONE, A LITTERAL CHUNK OF MY FLESH, BONE, MUSCLE, AND BLOOD IS GONE! And I'm _never,_ gonna get it back!"

"And then after I wake up after who knows how long, I find out that, not only am I alive, but the shit that just happened to me _wasn't_ a nightmare! It was real! Wake up in yet another unfamiliar place, surrounded by people I don't know, and I'm am FREAKING THE FUCK OUT! What I have to say now, are three simple questions. Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck are you? And _WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!_ So if you can answer those for me, and give me one reason, and I mean, and _really_ damn good reason why I shouldn't _**CALL THE MOTHERFUCKING FBI, THAT WOULD REALLY BENNEFIT EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THIS ROOM!**_

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

I don't think I had ever shouted that loud in my entire life when I'm not standing in front of a mic. My throat was sore and I was breathing raspily. The white-haired girl was right. I was pissed.

The lady siting in front, the one wearing a bunch of drab, cleared her throat before speaking after a few moments of silence. "Are you done?"

Truthfully, no, I wasn't. I hadn't even mentioned that I had gotten fucking _tranqed_ by these people, but my throat was pretty sore after all that ranting. Plus if I kept going, I'd never get my answers. So all I just said was, "Yeah…I guess…" I decided then and there it was probably best I calmed down for now.

"Good," the woman spoke. "Now then…where to start…first of all, I personally would like to appoligize for what happened to you. We had no idea there were…some of your kind left on the planet. We have just as many questions as you have, if not more. But first of all I would like to ask you, your name is Sam King correct?"

I stared for a moment before answering. "Uh…yeah…it is, but…how did—"

"106 told us," the girl with the blind fold spoke in a rather serious and monotonus voice.

Wait a minute…that's the girl that bent the pipe with one hand! My rage had now shifted over to warry. If these people actually captured me, I had to play this very carefully. I had no idea who these people were or why they saved me. Anything I said could very easily put me in a worse position than I was in right now. "Okay…um…where is it?"

"Maintenance," the boy said. "It got banged up pretty badly. Honestly, I'm surprised it was even functional the way it was."

I riased my eye brow at this. "Wait, you guys are fixing it?"

"All Tactical Support Units are valuable assets to YoRHa. If possible, retreival of all damaged YoRHa equipment is nessecarry," The white Pod floating next to the girl spoke.

"Your…ha…" Why did that name sound familiar? "Wait…you guys are from the same group that 106 is from?"

"Correct," The black Pod answered.

I took some time to ponder this. Part of me wanted to be skeptical, because these people could be lying to me and giving me a false sense of security…however, if these two Pods were just as truthful as 106 was…well, sort of, if you didn't count the fact that it was witholding information from me when we first met, then chances were more than likely that they were telling me the truth.

"Okay…" I said with apprehension still in my voice, cuz I wanted to error on the side of caution. "So then…" I turned to the two blind folded people. "You guys are…Your ha or whatever?"

"Yes," the girl replied. "I am YoRHa Type 2 Battle Unit. Designation: 2B."

"And I'm YoRHa Type 9 Scanner Unit," the boy added with a bit of a smile on his face. "I'm designated as 9S."

Once again I gave a really confused look. Those were extremely odd names for people. "Soooo…2B and 9S? Those are your names?"

"Yes," 2B replied curtly. Judging from her tone I could already tell she was probably bussiness oriented. Great. Not my kind of girl. She was very attractive looking though. But…huh…c'mon Sam, there's no chance in hell that's gonna happen, especially after…her…

"Uh…Sam?" I heard 9S say.

"Huh?"

"2B just asked you why you weren't on the moon."

"Ugh, this again?" I groaned. "Look, I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told 106 and that hunk of junk that took away my arm, I am not, repeat, _not,_ from the fucking moon. I've never been to the fucking moon. Last I heard, colinolization up there is still _years_ away. Possible, yes, but only in theory. We're still pretty far from actually doing it."

Everyone stayed silent at this. Well sort of. The wavy red-head whispered something over to the white-hared girl, the latter of whom just grumbled. I'm not really sure what that was about but I decided to save it for later.

"Alright…" The woman in drapes continued. "Well then, to answer one of your questions, you're in the Resistance Base."

"Resistance…" another name that sounded familiar. "Oh wait, are you the guys that 106 mentioned that are fighting the…aliens or some shit?"

"Don't tell me you actually believe that crap," the white-haired girl spoke.

"No, I don't," I said. "But _something_ made those walking talking rust buckets. I'm just skeptical about the whole alien thing."

"Ahem," Anemone cleared her throat. "In short, yes, we are combating against the aliens. Or more specifically their creations. I believe you already met them."

I snorted. "Yeah, and I've got a lot of 'fond' memories about my close encounter of the thrid kind."

It was hard to tell with the blind fold on, but I think 2B gave a look of slight confusion. "You consider loosing a limb to be plesant?"

"Ummm…I think he's being sarcastic, 2B," 9S corrected.

Once again I gave a confused look of my own to 2B. "I take it you don't get out often."

"Command has me deployed on various missions across the world," 2B said. "Your assumption is incorrect."

On the contrary, 2B, you just proved my point.

The white haired girl lightly face palmed. "It's like dealing with Mikhail all over again. But without the childish antics."

"Sounds like you enjoyed being around that little spit fire to me," the girl with eye patch commented.

The white-haired girl flipped her the bird. This in turn caused the wavy red-head girl to snicker, while the girl with the straight red hair was giggling as well, but she was trying to stiffle it.

The woman once again cleared her throat. "Getting back on topic…I am the leader of this particular Resistance base. My name is Anemone."

Yet another strange name. "You're named after an aquatic animal?"

"Yeah, that's what I said too when I met her," the white-haired girl commented.

"I'm not the one that came up with it," the woman now identified as Anemone spoke. "It's the name I was programed with."

…

"What?" The word "programed" is what caught my attention. "What do you mean by that?"

Anemone gave me a puzzled look. Apparantly there was a lot of that going around today, and I had a feeling it wasn't going to get old anytime soon. "I'm…afraid I don't understand what you mean?"

"The whole 'programed' part. You're saying that like you're a robot or something."

Anemone pursed her lips together, as if she was thinking of how to answer this. "Well…" she began. "In a way…I am…we all are…"

…

"W-wh…wha…I…I don't…what do you mean…?

"We're Androids," 9S said. "Your kind created us."

"W-wait…so…none…of you are…human…?"

"…No…" the straight haired red head said softly. "No one has seen another human being in thousands of years."

The white haired girl cleared her throat.

"Besides you, Zero," the wavy haired girl said.

"Wh…th… _thousands of years?"_ I was having a lot of trouble beleiving _any_ of what I was hearing. And I also wasn't liking _any_ of what I was hearing.

There was a rather long moment of silence before Anemone took in a deep breath. "106…told us that…the last day you remember before ending up in that factory…it was in the year 2018…is that right…?"

"Uhh…yyyyeah…why…?"

"Anem," the eye-patch girl spoke. "Are you really sure you wanna tell him this?"

"He has a right to know, Jackass," Anemone replied. "He'll find out about it either way."

"Find out about _what?!"_ I shouted.

Anemone sighe again before speaking. "The year right now…is 11,945 A.D."

…

…

…

…

…

"…You're lying."

It had to be a lie.

"It's the truth, kid," the eye-patch woman said.

"No…no! No it isn't!" I yelled. "You want me to believe that I've somehow managed to jump several thousand fucking years into the goddamn future?! How the hell does that even make any sense?!"

"Trust me," the white-haired girl spoke. "There's a whole lot about this stuff that doesn't make sense. But the whole part about the machines, and the future shit? That stuff is a hundred percent true, loathe as I am to admit it."

"Just cuz you say it doesn't mean that…" Just as I was saying all that, I had remembered something 106 said to me as I was walking though the factory.

" _The information pertaning to Sam King's query may be misunderstood and possibly denied. Therefore, this unit would become a biased source of information. Sam King has previously expressed skepticism at the mention of extra terrestrial lifeforms invading the Earth._ _Query: Would Sam King be inclined to believe any further information disclosed from this unit with out cross referencing information from a separate individual or party?"_

I remember that 106 had been witholding information from me when I first asked about when the whole "Machine War" thing started. If this was why 106 didn't give me a straight answer…

"No, no, I'm not believing this until I have some goddamn proof!"

"That missing arm of your's isn't proof enough?" the wavy red-haired girl commented.

"Devola!" the straight haired girl exclaimed with a horrified look on her face.

I shot a glare over to her. "Fuck. You."

There was a slight flich in her stance when I said that. Probably realizing the comment, while probably true in hindsight, was poorly timed. Looking back on it I feel sorry for the response I gave, but at the time, I was too close to the verge of hyseria to even care.

"You two," I pointed to the two Pods which had yet to identify themselves. "Uhhhh…"

"Tactical Support Unit Pod 042," The white pod spoke. "Assigned to YoRHa Unit, 2B."

"Tactical Support Unit Pod 153," the black Pod spoke. "Assigned to YoRHa Unit 9S."

042 and 153 then. "Okay, look, I'm kinda freaking out here, so I'm hoping I can get a non-biased asnwer. When I was in the factory with 106, I asked about when this whole mess started. It didn't give me a straight answer and just said to wait until we got to the Resistance or whatever for them to give me an answer. So if I _really_ am in the Resistance base right now, and these guys aren't posers, I'd like some clarity."

There was a bit of silence before 042 answered. "Query: Does Sam King know why Pod 106 denied information?"

"It…said that I wouldn't understand the answer and deny it without hearing from someone else." Honestly that was a pretty accurate assumption.

"The information disclosed by all present individuals is one hundred percent accurate," 153 spoke. "The current date is March 23rd, 11,945."

"…You're not lying are you?"

"Tactial Support Units are not programed to lie," 042 stated.

"But 106 didn't tell me anything about this! This is the first time I'm hearing of it."

"Correction," 153 began. "Unit 106 simply witheld information from Sam King. This is not the same as stating false information."

Looking back, I made that assumption about 106 as well, but at the time it was just an assumption. With how blunt and mater of fact 106 spoke to me, I didn't _think_ it was lying, but I couldn't be sure. But now there were two other Pods like 106 that were speaking in the same manner.

"Uh…okay…so…when did this…whole war start…?"

"The date when the Machine War occoured was Jully 4th 5012," 042 answered.

"…I…wh…" There had to be some mistake. My brain went into overdrive, trying to find something, _anything,_ to prove that this was all a hoax. But…the more I thought about it…the more I came to realized…that there really wasn't anything to refute it all. The Machines…both functional and deceased…their abilities…the Pods…and their abilities…these so-called "Androids"… the ruins outside…structures that looked like they hadn't been touched in decades or more…the overgrown plant life…

But…all of my friends…my family…they…

They're…

All…

…

…

…

. . . . . .

"…Listen, if you really are from 2018, I understand—"

"What the fuck do you know?!" I shouted. The words left my mouth before I realized it.

There was a bit of an akward silence before the woman with the eyepatch walked up and placed a hand on Anemone's sholder. "I think we oughta leave him alone for a bit."

Anemone looked like she wanted to protest the idea for a moment but then seemed to conceed. "Come on, everyone," she spoke. "Let's leave."

"But…" 9S was about to say something but then was cut off by 2B.

"9S," she said. "This is not the time."

9S looked a little disappointed, but relented. Everyone started to leave, with Anemone being the last. But before she left, she turned to me. "I truly am sorry, Sam. We'll be back to check on you in a few hours. In the meantime, just rest. You need it…"

Anemone then closed the door, and once again, I was alone. Alone with my thoughts…my losses…my pain…

I gently reached with my remaining arm to touch the stump of where my right arm used to be. I fliched slightly at the pain of the severed nerves and muscles through the cloth of the gauze that covered my injury. This triggered the pain in my sprained ankle, causing me to realize just how broken I was. And it wasn't limited to being broken physically.

The pain of my body gave way to the pain of those I'll never see again…

Mom…

Dad…

My friends…

My classmates…

…Sarah…I wish she was still here…

Tears started to form in my eyes as I started to sob softly. And then louder…until I was crying uncontrolably into the pillow of my bed…and I just cried…and cried…and cried…

Until both my tears and voice ran dry…

 **Meanwhile in the Flooded City**

When Five woke up she noticed two things. One was she was under water. And the other…she couldn't breathe.

Upon realizing this part, she started frantically swimming up to the water's surface, thaking in a hoarse gasp for breath as she broke through. Five subconciously then grabed the nearest piece of soil rock to prop herself above the water with and she coughed up the remaining bits of water from her lungs.

"Okay…I am _never_ doing the zombie thing again…wait…" Upon speaking for the first time in…well, since she remembered, she realized that something wasn't the way she remembered it.

She was alive.

" _But…how?"_ she thought as she dragged herself out of the ocean and onto the rock. She remembered that Zero had killed her…again…and that Ditto had betrayed Zero before he went back to being a bird brain…Five had to wonder where his loyalty really lied, if neither with her or Zero…but…if she was alive then…what happened to the Flower…?

Five let out a sigh. "Zero, you're too couragous for your own good…" Although the word "corageous" might be the wrong adjective to use to describe her motives. But a lesser person wouldn't be willing to run straight to their deaths to save the world.

That aside, how was she even still alive? Five couldn't feel the influence of the Flower's power in her head anymore, so that's definetly a good sign. She could barely hold a decent conversation without slipping into an inuendo with that thing hanging around her. Noth that she minded, but it got old after a bit. Even for her.

After catching her breath, Five took a moment to look around her. She was suround by water and a lot of ruined buildings. But the buildings were of very strange designs. The looked like towers made out of stone that she had never seen before. In fact, when she looked where she was laying, the "rock" turned out to be a toppled building that was submerged in the water.

"Where am I?" Five wondered aout loud. It obvoously appeared to be a city of sorts, but it had definetly seen better days.

"Aaaaaaaaaannnnndrooooooiiiiid…"

Startled at the suddon groanding speech, Five turned her head to see…something really strange. Two large and long metal worms of sorts that seemed to be made up of rusty metal spheres. On some of the spheres there were sharp metal spinning blades, and on both ends of the worms there were sharp twisting spikes.

There were also two flying…things…that seemed to aslo be made out of the same kind of rusty metal as the Worms. They had some kind of short hunchback golom with red beady eyes controling them, and there were cannons of some kind attatched to the front of them.

"What in the…" Five began, but never got to finish. The Flying Things began to shoot out purpule orbs of energy at her. Five wasn't the smartest in the world, but she didn't need to be to figure out that those would probably hurt her. Acting on reflex, she rolled over on to her feet and summoned her Cross Lance.

"Kiiiillllllll…kiiiillllllll…"

"You can try," Five smirked right before she dashed forward to meet her strange foes.

…

 **Two Hours Later**

I must've fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I heard was a kock at the door followed by a very, very groggy feeling.

"Sam?" I heard a woman's voice. Anemone's I think it was.

"Uuuuuuuuuugh…" was all I could get out.

"Are you okay?" I heard her ask again.

The answer to that of course was a big fat no. But…I wansn't going to be a dick about it. "Yeah…yeah I'm fine…just dozed off for a bit…"

There was a few seconds of silence before she spoke again. "May we come in."

I took a moment to think about this. On the one hand I really wasn't in the mood to see or talk to anyone…but…on the other hand…maybe it was something I needed…I still had some questions…and moping wasn't going to get me answers…

"Sure…I guess…" I begrudingly mumbled as I sat up on my bed.

The door opened and Anemone stepped in along with the two red heads. The three of them all looked at me with very somber expressions. No doubt worried about how I was.

"Sam, there's—"

"Wait…"I said, realizing there was something more important I needed to say first. "I…need to appoligize…"

Anemone and the two red-heads gave me puzzled looks at this. "For what?" Anemone asked.

"My last outburst when you were here…" I said. "I…was stressed and…the information you told me was…a lot to process…and…I just kinda…got mad…and then broke down after you left…I shouldn't have done that…so…I'm sorry if I seemed ungreatful…and…thank you for saving me…"

At the time I wasn't sure why the three of them had shocked looks on their faces. It seemed as though I had said something they weren't expecting.

"W-well…" Anemone said, her composture shaken a bit. "That's…kind of you to say that…but you really don't have anything to appoligize for…if everything 106 told us about you is true then…your distress is understandable…"

"Even so, my behavior was still poor…I…hope you can forgive me…"

Nothing was said for a few moments before Anemone cleared her throat. "Anyways…Sam, I know this is probably…not ideal for you but…Devola and Popola need to sample your blood again now that you're awake."

"…uhhh…who?"

"She means us," the wavy red-haired girl said.

"Sorry…" the straight-haired girl spoke. "We never properly introduce ourselves. I'm Popola and next to me is Devola."

"Hey," Devola said casually.

"U-uh…hey…" I replied. I wasn't sure if it was the fact that I wasn't freaking out like I was earlier or if this was the first time I was conversing with them but…they looked…really pretty…

Their hair reminded me of…no, no, can't think of her, otherwise I'll cry again…

"Hey, you okay?" I heard Devola ask.

"Huh?"

"You're…um…staring…" Popola stated.

"O-oh…oh! I…sorry…I just…ah—nevermind…" I was not about to tell them they looked pretty…well I wanted to, but…that would've sounded akward, especially sicne we first met. And…I don't think I'm ready for another yet… "So…what exactly do you need my bl…wait, what do you mean 'again?'"

"Oh, right, we never got to that part," Anemone said. "Well…simply put…up until now, you've been in a…coma…"

…

…

…

I wanted to argue this…but after taking a look at my…missing arm…still not used to it…and recalling my spotty memory after I lost it… "How long was I out…?"

"Two weeks," Popola answered.

"And then about an hour after your, quote/unquote, escape attempt," Devola commented.

I let out a groan. "I guess that's something else I need to appoligize for."

"You were scared," Popola said. "And you had every reason to be. So it's nothing you need to worry about."

"Popola's right," Anemone said. "We're no strangers to fear with the war going on. You're in unfamiliar territory, Sam. A lot has happened over the centuries. There's a lot you have to learn…and a lot of it may…unsettle you."

"Compared to loosing a piece of me…I think I can handle it…" That of course was a lie…but why make the people who were looking after me worry anymore than they had to.

"So…may we see your…um…" Popola began, but then stopped, looking uncertain how to continue the question.

"Your…arm…" Devola replied, equally uncertain.

I looked over at my remaining arm, and only then did I notice a few small bruises on the elbow creace. "Oh," I said, realizing their cautious behavior. They weren't sure how to talk about my left arm without reminding me that I didn't have a right. Realizing this caused me to gently place my hand over the stump. "It's…okay…loosing a limb or two is nothing compared to my life…even…if I'm not where I would like to be right now…but…I'll get used to it…somehow…it's really all I can do at this point…"

I then held out my arm with the elbow face down. Popola then walked forward with a syringe in her hand. She still looked very nervous, like she was afraid of hurting me. "Um…this…might sting a bit for you…" she said, proving my guess.

I just chuckled. "It's okay…uh…Popola, right?" She nodded. "Well, if you're worried about hurting me, you don't have to. This isn't the first time I've had blood drawn from me." Glancing over at where my right arm used to be I added, "In more ways than one."

Popola still looked a bit nervous as she bit her lower lip, but proceeded. She gently stuck the syringe in my remaining arm. I winced a bit at the slight discomfort. Popola's eyes widened like she had made a great mistake, but I told her that I'm fine. She was hesitant, but she continued. She pulled the tab on the syring to draw out a little bit of my blood. In less then a second it was full, and Popola withdrew the needle.

Devola then came by and applied some sterilizing alcohol, I think that's what doctors put on a wound, dabbed it around with some cloth, and then put a band-aid on the area where the needle punctured me.

"Sorry about that," she said. "But your blood tells us how healty you are. Now that you're awake, somethings might have changed."

"We'll let you know if there's anything else we need from you," Popola added.

"Okay," I said.

"Is there anything you'd like to know before we leave?" Anemone asked. "I don't mean to be hasty, but as the leader of this Resistance outpost, there's a lot of matters I have to attend to, so anything you'd like to know since you've been out, you may want to ask now." 

"Well…just two things," I said. "First…how did I end up in this place. The last thing I remember before going into a comma was loosing my arm…and then complete blank."

"2B and 9S found you shortly after you lost your arm," Devola replied. "2B was the one who carried you back here. 9S stayed behind to…investigate something, I'm not really sure what."

"Popola and Devola oversaw your progress through the past two weeks," Aneomne added.

"'Progress?'" I repeated.

"Your heart was working slower than it should have, so we had to keep you on life support," Popola explained.

"Jackass came up with the medicine to help get your heart back in gear," said Devola. "Me, Popola, Anemone and a few other YoRHa guys helped gather the materials to make it."

"So it was a group effort," I deduced.

"It was very close, too," Anemone said, rather grimly. "If 2B and 9S hadn't found you when they did, you might have died right then and there."

At hearing that, I then remembered what that Sword Machine had said about taking me alive. "Not unless 'Clap-Trap' back there was on the level about that 'disection' shit."

Devola gave me a puzzled look. "What?"

"…106 didn't tell you any of this?"

"2B and 9S had the pod sent back to the Bunker for maintenance shortly after you got here," Anemone explained. "They were the last people it talked to before that."

"Okay, well…one of the Machines that attacked me seemed to be…smarter, I guess, than the rest. It said it wanted to disect me, saying that I was like…I dunno, some sort of 'rare catch.'"

Popola made a scared…squeak I guess?...as she placed her hands over her mouth. Devola's eyes wen wide, as did Anemone's. "Wh-what…the Machine…talked…"

"Uhhhhh…yeah...? Why, do they not…oh wait, 106 said that they generally don't talk. So…I guess their…evolving then? I'm guessing that's bad?"

"It most certainly is," Aneomne answered. "2B and 9S had a similar encounter in the desert, but theirs was…a bit bizzare…"

"Bizzare how?" I asked.

"Bizzare as in the Machines they encountered were human body immitations," Devola said. "Two guys, and one of them apparantly…was created from the other guy's…flesh…?"

"…huh?"

For a moment none of what Devola explained made sense. But the last part…sounded really familiar…wait…Adam and Eve? I remember Sword Machine saying something about some people that went by those names. Was there a connection? In the Bible it was said that Eve was born from Adam's bone. And Devola just said that one of the…humanoid machines, I guess, was born from the other guys flesh. But…if I heard her right, they were both guys…which, if the Machines are even capable of understanding either concept, is irony, or a straight up F you to God. Either way, I approve. Bravo Machine Lifeforms. Give me my arm back and we'll call it even.

"Sam?" Anemone's voice brought me out of my train of thought. "Do you know something about this?"

"Huh…? Oh, uh…no…well…maybe, but it's hard to say for sure. I'm just guessing right now. So, nothing noteworthy." No sense in telling them something I'm not sure about. Besides, I didn't know if it would help the Resistance, or how. "So, uhhh, the second thing is…" I let out a sigh. "Look, this probably isn't a good idea, but…I think I'm entitled to it after today…got something to drink?"

…

AN: Another month(s) another chapter! Better one this time with some exposè. Not all of it though. Sam is still…kinda in a daze…which will soon turn into getting shit-faced for understandable reasons. And it already seems he's eyeing the twins. But…who's this Sara person. Well for now, I trust you can put two and two together. I mean, how else would you be able to understand the lore of NieR and Drakengard outside of doing research? Ditto Kingdom Hearts. Seriously it's not that complicated of a story, just use your brain in a way that doesn't give you a headache. That's what I did. But that was also during a time when I was suffering from chronic insomnia. Really pumped for KH III.

Side note, SMASH ULTIMATE IS FUCKING AMAZING! TAKE _THAT_ MELEE FANBOYS! (No offense to anyone who enjoyed Melee, just…tone it down for those of us who don't care that much about it, okay?) Seriously though, it's awesome, taking the best parts of Brawl, 3DS & Wii U and mashing them together. And also, biggest fucking roster ever in the history of fighting games…I think. 82+ FIGHTERS! And…I assume…counting, if the Joker reveal trailer was anything to go by, and the rease of Pirhanna Plant early next year.

Anyways, enough fangasming. Five is here! Bet you weren't expecting that, hue hue hue. Wonder what's gonna happen when she gets through the Machines? Anyways, I probably won't have the next chapter out until sometime after New Years. Gotta focus on getting holiday shopping done for the fam. Also, MERRY CHRISTMAS! And a happy holidays to everyone! Until next time. STAY TUNNED!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Oh, You Say That Too?**

 **One Week Earlier**

A2 sat on the roots of the surrounding trees as she took in all the information that Weiss had just revealed. Needless to say, all of it was both unnerving and unbelievable.

"So…just to clarify…" she spoke. "You're telling me that this is the…third time the Earth has come under attack? First from these…Legion monsters, then second from the…Shades or Gestalts or whatever. And you're telling me all of the things that happened from those things were made possible by…magic?"

"In layman terms yes," Weiss replied.

"And that you fought against both the Legions and the Shades with your friend…Neir was it?"

"Well, the Shades, yes. The Legions I fought against during the days when I was still human, as a child soldier of the Hamilion Organization," Weiss clarified.

A2 sat in silence for a moment before speaking again. "Do you realize how ridiculous this sounds?"

"From your point of view yes," Weiss acknowledged. "Before the discovery of magic, mankind thought such a feat to be existing only in fantasy and folklore."

"How exactly does one 'discover' magic?" Three asked. She had been listening to the story that Weiss had told as well, and while she believed the majority of it more than A2 seemed to, there were a few parts that didn't add up? "Magic is everywhere."

"Penny for your thoughts," Weiss countered. "Do you know what the origin of magic is?"

Three opened her mouth to answer, but then found that words didn't come. As she thought about it…she really didn't know the answer. She remembered One tried to research into how magic came to be, but came up short around the year 800 or so. There was an academy in the late 80s of the 9th century that taught magic, but it was only how to use it. As for its origin, that's anyone's guess.

"I'll take your silence as a 'no,'" Weiss deduced.

"Well what about you?" A2 asked the floating tome. "If you know so much about the history of this planet, then do you how magic was discovered?"

"Sadly, no I don't," Weiss replied grimly. "Whatever transpired that let to humanity to discovering magic is something that happened long before I was born. I never had the chance to learn about the history of this world before then. Much of Earth's cultures and history was lost during the war against the Legions."

"Tch. Of fucking course," A2 grumbled. "Well if you can't prove anything to me, about that shit, then I've got no reason to believe you."

"Whoever said I didn't have proof?" Weiss retorted. The book's cover then suddenly opened up with a ruffle of fast moving pages. A brief flash of light happened, ending as soon as it started, and from it, four pages floated down. A2 grabbed two of them, while Three grabbed the remaining two.

"Project…Gestalt," Three read aloud.

"Yes," Weiss answered. "They very same experiment that I was unknowingly a candidate for."

"What the hell..." A2 whispered as she read her papers. "Devola and Popola were part of this?!"

Weiss turned to the worn out android. "I presume from your outburst that you are acquainted with the Devola and Popola units?"

"Well…sort of…I only met them once or twice in the Resistance camp," A2 responded. "Couple of oddballs there. Out of everyone in the camp, those two are the ones who stand out the most. And for whatever reason, at least from what I heard, they're not very well liked."

If Weiss were capable of it, his face would be expressing a thoughtful scowl. "Any reason why that may be?"

"Hell if I know," the roughed up gynoid replied. "But I heard a few people saying that…they…were the reason humanity was nearly extinct…?"

"Hmm…well, that perception is understandably confusing," Weiss replied. "I can see what would lead the other Androids to think that…but tell me, what do you think?"

"Me?" A2 scoffed. "I stopped giving a shit about fighting the 'good fight' ages ago. Whether or not those two were the cause for humanity's demise, it doesn't matter. Knowing won't bring them back."

"True," Weiss replied. "But would you really be content going the rest of your life without some sort of closure?"

A2 was about to say "no"…but then stopped herself just as she opened her mouth. To say that she wasn't at least a little bit curious would be a flat out lie. She may not have cared anymore, but there have been several times where she did wonder exactly what brought on their end.

"I can tell from your silence that you have thought about it at least once or twice," Weiss said.

"I am quite curious myself," Three chimed in, as she was still looking through the Project Gestalt papers. "The technology that was used to make these Gestalts possible sounds truly amazing."

"Ugh, fine!" A2 relented. "But you better not—"

SNAP!

A2 nearly jumped at the sound of a twig snapping. _"Shit! How could I have gotten distracted so easily?"_

"What was—" Three began, but then was immediately silenced by A2.

"Shh!" A2 shushed the purple-haired Intoner. "Don't make too much noise, or they'll hear us."

"…who will?" Weiss asked, whom would soon receive his answer in the form of a different female voice.

"Why did _we_ get stuck with scouting crap?" a very irritated voice rang out. "Can't 2B and 9S take this? They're the experts when it comes to this anomaly shit."

"Because they're busy helping Popola and Devola with the human," a well composed and authoritive voice said. "And Jackass is currently investigating another anomaly in the desert. We're the only other androids available who know the most about these phenomena, and if it's another human like Sam, then all the more reason why we're the ones to look into it. The fewer androids know about this, the better."

"But…I thought humans were extinct…" a meek sounding voice spoke. "How…can Sam even be…well…here…"

There was a moment of silence that followed. A2 saw this as a good opportunity to see who was making all the noise. Weiss and Three followed behind as quietly as they could.

"Ugh, not them," A2 grumbled.

8B, 22B, and 64B. They were back.

"You know them?" Three asked.

"Not personally. They're just some grunts from YoRHa. Those particular three have been here once before looking for…stuff for something, I dunno what. I overheard they were getting things for…a lone human supposedly, but that's a load of bullshit. Three years later and nothing seems to have changed at YoRHa."

"Look, there's a whole lot about this that doesn't make sense," the leader, whom A2 identified as 8B spoke. "But the fact remains the boy in a coma is human. And we have proof that he is. A heart beat, arteries, actual body heat…and he's alive…and on earth…"

"Fuck…this whole ordeal is messing with my head…" 64B spoke rubbing her temples. "Look let's just get what we came here for so we can go ho—AUGH!"

TRIP!

WHUMP!

64B, not paying attention to her surroundings as she continued to walk, ended up tripping over two cardboard boxes full of…something…a whole bunch of things that the YoRHa androids, A2, Weiss, and Three had never seen before.

"Augh, fuck! What the hell?!" 64B cursed.

A2 couldn't help but snicker quietly. Three giggled a bit as well, finding the comedic moment quite humorous.

Needless to say, Battle Units were never really known to be aware of their surroundings when in a conversation. Though that was mostly just 64B.

"That…wasn't here before…was it…?" 22B inquired.

"I don't believe so…" 8B answered, not entirely sure herself.

A2 turned to look at Three with an accusing glare. "Seriously? You leave your shit out in the open like that?"

"Those do not belong to me, I assure you," Three replied. "I have never seen anything like those items or those containers in my life."

"…what? You've never seen cardboard before?" A2 asked incredulously.

"Card…board? Is that what those boxes are made out of? What kind of material is that?"

"It's mostly made out of paper," Weiss replied.

Now it was Three's turn to look incredulous. " _That's_ paper?!"

"Shhhh!" A2 shushed the two irritating guests. If she was going to get caught, it wasn't going to be because of these two interlopers.

"'Sam's Game Consoles,'" 64B read aloud from one of the boxes. "' Touch without my knowledge or permission, and I'll kill you.' …ooookaaaaayyy…so this clearly belongs to the human boy that dropped in last week. If this note's anything to go by, he really does not want anyone touching this stuff…sooo…do we just leave it here?"

"For the Machines to possibly find?" 8B spoke with an incredulous edge in her voice. "Forget it. Sam can yell at us all he wants when he wakes up. Our priority is to safeguard both the human and anything that's related to him."

64B sighed. "Okay, fine. Not looking forward to when he wakes up then…PS2…PS3…PS4…Wii…Wii U…Switch…what the hell is this stuff?" The irritable battle android went through the items in the box, not having the slightest clue what any of them were. They didn't _look_ like weapons. But then again, who knows what the Machines could repurpose them for?

"U-um…is that thing…some kind of monitor…?" 22B asked as she pointed to a large black…square thing on a built in stand sitting hear a tree with a pile of broken up wood that appeared to be either a table or a desk with shelves at one point. Miraculously enough, unlike the large pile of splintered wood, it had managed to stay intact from…whatever had brought it here. Same with the items in the box.

"Maybe…" 64B observed. "I sort of looks similar to the computer monitors and the TV set back at the Resistance camp…but…there's no possible way this is either of those…it's too big…and…much wider."

"Don't tell me we're going to take that too," 64B groaned.

"Do you _want_ to disobey orders?" 8B asked incredulously.

"What _'orders?'_ " 64B countered. "YoRHa is bullshit, this war is bullshit, and so are our so-called 'orders!''

"Let me rephrase that then; do you want to give the Commander reason to suspect us of treason until we can figure out what to do in the future?"

64B just glared at her leader for a bit, but then relented with an exasperated sigh. "Alright fine. You win."

"Glad to know you continue to see reason, 64B."

"Don't patronize me. 22B, can you help me get the monitor thing?"

"U-umm, sure."

As 64B gathered up the boxes of strange items under her arms, 22B grabbed the large screen item.

"Okay, looks like that's it," 64B observed.

"Good. Let's get these things back to the resistance camp. Anemone can take it from there. Hopefully Jackass will be there when we get back, then we can compare notes."

64B sighed once again. "This whole thing makes zero sense..."

"Yes, so you've kept saying for the past several days," 8B said tiresomely.

"Because it hasn't made any sense for the past several days!" 64B exclaimed.

With that, the YoRHa Androids continued onwards to out of the woods. Only until their footsteps could no longer be heard did A2 breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank God."

"So...care to inform me what that was about?" Weiss asked.

"Nothing really of importance," A2 replied. "Just some YoRHa lackeys that came here about at week ago looking for something for…fuck, I dunno, something human-related. Apparently they're convinced they found one that's still alive, which is a bunch of bullshit. No doubt another YoRHa trap."

"Hmm…I wouldn't be too sure…" Three said. "Their leader listed off some rather specific traits that this "boy" in question had to distinguish him as human."

"That's common knowledge," A2 asked. "All Androids possess knowledge of the general human body. Wouldn't make much sense to look like them if we didn't know a little bit about them."

"Common knowledge, perhaps," Weiss admitted. "However, knowing something, and seeing something are entirely two different things. Whatever it was they saw, it must have been real enough to be an actual human. Or a very convincing double."

"Yeah, an Android," A2 retorted.

"Do Androids generate body heat?"

A2 thought about this for a moment. "Generally, no. Unless we seriously over work ourselves. Or spend an extended time in the sun."

"Exposure to the heat of the sun is not the same as body…wait…where's our other companion?"

"Huh?"

Sure enough, when A2 looked over to her right…Three was nowhere to be seen.

"Ah—wh—where did—!"

Worried her cover would be blown in a matter of seconds, the rouge gynoid frantically looked around to find the purple clad Intoner.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, she was able to spot Three…whom was currently following the direction that the YoRHa Androids had gone.

"Wh—what is she—ugh, Goddamn it!"

A2 quickly and quietly left to pursue her new "friend" to make sure she doesn't compromise her.

Weiss sighed and perused the foul-mouthed humanoid. "I'm getting too old for this."

…

 **Present Day**

A splitting headache.

That's what I woke up with the next day.

It felt like someone had shoved my head into a clasp for several hours, with an anvil on top of it.

So this is what a hangover feels like. Definitely a convincing fact to never drink again. Letting out a groan, I tried to force myself up out of bed, but with no luck.

"I told you that was gonna hit you in the morning," a husky female voice spoke into my ear.

… _that_ was what woke me up for good. The warm breath from whoever was behind me scared the crap out of me to the point where I completely forgot that I was still missing my right arm and still had a sprained ankle. But I was immediately reminded when I failed to throw myself out of bed, and ended up throwing myself face first to the floor.

Again.

I really hoped this wasn't gonna be a thing.

I heard whoever was in bed with me lightly chuckle. "Y'know, I think I like you better with a hangover than I do with you drunk."

Failing to turn myself over, all I could do was attempt to respond. Which I failed at that as well.

"Damn, you really are a light weight," the voice said again. "Is this seriously your first hangover?"

It didn't take long, but I did manage to roll myself over, and then grabbed the side of the bed I was sleeping on to hoist myself up, soon to be greeted by the sight of…a really pretty girl with white hair, blazing crimson eyes, a bandage on her nose…aaaaaaand completely naked.

"Uh…uhhhhhhhhh…"

"For fuck sake," the girl said with an irritated tone. "Quit gawking. The amount of things you haven't done in your life is really starting to irritate me. You haven't gotten drunk before, you haven't fucked before—"

"Wait, _what?!"_ I really hoped that last part wasn't what happened last night. "Did—did we—"

"Relax kid, you passed out way before anything happened," the girl replied. "Guys that can't handle their alcohol are a big turn off for me."

"Okay, one ouch, both physically and metaphorically, and two, if the whole one night stand shit didn't happen, why are you in my room?"

" _Our_ room, dumbass. I sleep here too. You think the Resistance is a…shit what was that word…motle…motal…?"

Now it was my turn to chuckle. "Seriously? You don't know what a friggin' motel is? _Now_ who's the dumbass?"

"Hey, up yours, lightweight virgin, I'm still learning all this future crap."

That last part confused me for a bit. "Wait, what do you mean…oooooohhhhhhh, right…" I had forgotten for a bit that I was stuck in the year 11,945 A.D. Damn, hangovers are brutal.

But…wait…"Hold on, you're from the past too?"

"Yeah," the girl replied. "Though apparently I'm much older than you."

"…wait….so…you're not an android?"

"Nope."

"You're human?"

"…well…sort of…"

"…huh?"

"Look, don't ask, I'm not really in the mood to explain. I've done that enough with Anemone and Jackass. Not that they believed most of it…"

"Uhhh…oooookaaaaayyy…" I wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but I decided not to pry. She was already in a pissed off mood, and I didn't feel like making worse by asking a question she didn't feel like answering. "Soooo….like how many years are we talking?"

"Well over a thousand, considering your year," the girl replied. "I don't remember the exact date…but I know it was some time in the 1020s."

"Ten tw…you're about two years shy of a thousand there….uhhhhhhhhh, who are you again? No, wait a minitue, what do you mean _our_ room?!"

"One, I said some time _in_ the 1020s, genius, two, it's Zero, and three, exactly what I mean by that. Your room is the only room available that's away from prying eyes."

I'd probably have a better time understanding those last two parts if I didn't have a pounding headache. "Wait so…does that mean you've been sleeping in the same bed as me for the past two weeks?"

"Oh, hell no," the girl named…Zero….oooookaaayyy…replied. "You got here a week before I did, and you crapped yourself the day I got here. I'm not sleeping with a guy who shits himself."

"I was…ow…in a fucking comma, you dumb bitch," I said, both irritated with my hangover, and with this girl's attitude. "You think people have any control over their bodily functions when that happens?!"

FWOOSH!

All of a sudden, I found myself face to face with a white sword that came out of nowhere into Zero's hand, as she pointed at me. "Watch your mouth, kid," Zero said, with a very threatening tone. "Otherwise I might sever your other arm."

"U-uh…I…uh…" This came totally out of left field for me, so I wasn't really sure how to react. Aside from being…kinda scared. A feeling that I suppose I should have familiar with by now, but this whole future post apocalyptic era was still completely surreal to me. So it hadn't really sunk in.

Zero then, to my surprise, laughed a bit as her sword vanished. "You're way too easy to mess with, kid."

I groaned both irritably. "I'm too hung over for this shit." 

"Devola and Popola have go some…ass…sprain…something shit for that shit," Zero explained.

"Asprin…uhhh…what was your name again?"

"Zero!" said girl said, not even bothering trying to hide her irritation. "I literally told you that two minutes ag—rgh!" She didn't finish as she suddenly grit her teeth hard and held her right hand to her head. "Agh, fuck, what in the…rrrrgghh!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at how quickly this broad figuratively ended up biting her tongue. "Hahaha, okay, well, 'Zero,' assuming that's your real name, which I doubt, couple things. One, not unlike you apparently, for all that your feigning confidence was worth…"

Zero shot a glare at me. "Watch it, asshole." If looks could kill…

"I've got a hangover that's really starting to convince me that I should crawl back into bed, whether or not these sheets are even clean…"

"They are."

"And—shut up—and weather or not your bright and sunny ass is in it…"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"So— _shut up_ —so excuuuuuuse me princess, if I'm having a hard time focusing on a conversation from three seconds ago, because I have a headache the size of Europe!"

"The fuck is 'Your-Rope?'"

"Sec—seriously, _shut up._ "

"Make me, pansy-wuss."

"I—tha—you—rrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGG…second, as I was saying…Zero…seriously? _That's_ what you decide to call yourself?"

"You got a problem with that?"

"Oh, no, no, nonono, not at all, badass name actually, it's just that, it's kinda, sorta, not really, well, original."

Zero looked at me with a bit of a blank expression on her face, no doubt trying (and failing) to understand the context of what I had just said. "What?"

"Heh, guess Mega Man X and Code Geass isn't a thing where you're from."

"What the hell is that?"

It was at that point, I got an awesome idea. Or, evil, depending on your perspective. "Oooohhhhh man, lemme tell ya, I've got a stockpile of stuff from the 21st cerntry to sh…uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggghhhhhh…goddamn it…"

I had just remembered what happened to my bed. And if that was anything to go by…chances of the rest of my stuff surviving the trip here weren't that great.

"What?"

"Nothing," I sighed. "I just realized that I'm probably going to be ridiculously bored for however long I'm here."

"Tell me about it," Zero agreed. "I've tried going back out of the camp a few times to check out the ruins but Anemone is adamant that I don't. And Jackass seems to…sort of agree."

"Yeah, well, if there's more of those Machines out there, I'm none too eager to…wait, you _want_ to go out there?"

"…to take out my confusion induced aggression…and aggression in general, on those machine things."

"Wouldn't recommend it."

" _I_ can handle myself, kid. I've been in fights before."

"Is that why you have a swor—wait a minute, how did you pull that out of nowhere like that?"

"You're not gonna believe me if I tell you; no one else has."

"What, is it some crazy shit like magic?"

"….yeah kinda."

"…ugh…"

"…wait, that's it? You're not gonna question it?"

"I would…but my situation makes zero sense right now, so who am I to talk, and I'm too hung over to even form an argument or even care…"

"Good, cuz I don't wanna be responsible for giving you a black eye and then having to explain it to the Anemone and the twins."

"Is it wrong for me to wonder if you've been house broken as a kid?"

 _That…_ didn't really seem to sit too well with her. She gave me the harshest glare that would've given my mom a run for her money. "Okay, you what?!" Zero yelled.

But before she could continue, the door to my…ugh, _our_ room opened up to reveal the red-head twins Devola and Popola walking in…without knocking.

"Okay, rise and shine, slee—whoa!" Devola was first walk in…and see both me and Zero naked.

"Oh my…!" Followed by Popola, whose face was turning just about as red as her hair.

"AUGH, JESUS!" Understandably freaked out by the sudden interruption, I scrambled to cover my…privates…which I had nothing to cover with, I had just realized. So I had to use my hands.

…ugh…fucking morning wood…and having three attractive girls in the same room really didn't help…

"…uhhhhhh…ooooookaaaaaaayyyy…" Devola spoke, not really attempting to make the situation any less awkward. "So…should we just…um…come back when you're done…fucking."

"Wh-hey, we weren't—!"

Zero chuckled. "Yeah, right. This guy can probably last with me about as long as he does with alcohol."

"Hey, you're not helping!"

"W-well…um…regardless…y-you…um…" Popola seemed like she was struggling to form a sentence…but she wouldn't…well…

"Please stop staring at me," I begged. I could literally feel my face heating up a thousand degrees.

"Popola, c'mon, it isn't like you haven't seen him naked before," Devola said to her twin.

"You _what?!"_

"Who do you think helped you change and clean up when you shit yourself?" Zero asked pointedly.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuugggghhhhh…kill me now…" I was really hoping I would die of embarrassment at this point.

"N-no!" Popola shouted defensively. "We won't do that!"

"He's not serious," Zero corrected. "He's just super embarrassed. It actually would be cute if it wasn't pathetic."

Cue internal screaming.

"Well…whatever you're doing…it's been nine hours so, it's gotta stop. Anemone wants to see you, so…make yourselves decent. We don't need you two attracting anymore attention than you already have," Devola explained.

"Wait, that's…the resistance leader, right?"

"Uhh…yeah…we told you that yesterday," Devola said. "Where the hell have you been?"

"He's hungover," Zero explained. "And…ugh…so am I…kinda…"

"Ouch," Devola commented.

"I told you drinking that much was not good for your condition, Sam," Popola said with a very worried expression on her face.

"Why…rgh…why didn't you talk me out of it?"

"We did," Devola said. "Several times. But Zero here basically dragged you away from us and gave you the strongest stuff in the camp. Said it was payback for her nose."

"Payback for…huh?"

"You broke my nose when you bashed me in the face with your head, ass," Zero said with much irritation in her voice.

"What?! Bullshit, when did that happen."

"When you were trying to run off, dumbass."

"When I was…wait I don't remember ever seeing…wait…" I did remember that I was grabbed from behind just as I was about to leave the camp, and then I head butted that person with the back of my head…and that it felt more like…an actual skull than metal… "Oooooooohhhhh…"

"Yeah, 'oh,' bitch," Zero cracked back.

"…sorry."

"How is your nose by the way, Zero?" Popola asked.

"Still sore sometimes, but other than that it's okay. I do kinda miss the whole regenerating thing with the flower, though."

"If half of that stuff you told us are true, you should be glad that it is gone," Devola commented.

"Whoa, whoa, _what?_ " I interjected, confused as all hell about a few key details. "What the fuck are you guys talking about? Did I black out during the staff meeting? _You_ can _fucking regenerate?!_ Bullshit."

Zero sighed. "If I had a piece of gold for every time someone said that. And for the record, it's bullshit now, because I can't do it anymore. Which sucks for me."

"Sucks for you? At least you still have all your limbs attached."

"Better get used to it, kid."

"Uuuuuuuuuugh…" This woman, I was convinced, was going to drive me nuts. "Can I take a shower first. My breath smells like booze and I feel like I've been violated both mentally and physically. Ditto for my sanity."

"Sure," Popola said. "I've actually got a new set of clothes for you right here." She held up a set of…really ratty looking clothes…I guess that makes sense, considering where I am.

"Okay…but…where are the clothes I wore yesterday? I'm not walking to the shower in the nude."

Everyone pointed to the area behind me. I looked over…and saw my underwear, grey sweatpants…and blood stained, ruined, white tee shirt.

"Well," I sighed. "That's not coming out." But it was better than nothing.

What would be even better is if I had gotten used to the fact that I was missing my dominant arm. I once again stumbled as I tried to get myself up. Devola and Popola both quickly rushed to my side to help me up.

"You need to take it slow," Popola said, concern in her voice. "Your body is off balance and you still have the sprain."

"Yeah," I grunted in slight discomfort. "I noticed."

"We'll help you get your clothes on," Devola spoke. "Zero, can you help him to the showers?"

"If I have to," Zero grumbled.

"Wait, what? Why does _she_ have to take me?" I asked pointedly. "Can't you just tell me where it is and I…oh…right…" Fucking sprain and balance.

"Yeah, I'm real happy about this too, numb nuts."

"It would also probably be a good idea for you to shower with him as well so he doesn't fall over," Popola added.

"Oh what the sweet crispy fuck?!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, you say that too?" Zero added.

…

AN: FINALLY. A lot of stuff happened the past few months in my life. I was going to make this chapter a bit longer, but I think fifteen pages is enough for now. Best not to make too much work for me.

Also, I was kinda busy with KH III and video editing some other stuff. Great game, buuuuuuuuuut the pacing of the narrative was…choppy at best. Hopefully that'll get fixed with the story expansion DLC. Also they got REALLY lazy with Arendelle. Honestly, I would've been content with waiting until Frozen II was made for it to come out. There probably would've been a lot more for Square to work with. Of course that would depend on what the sequel contains, which from what the trailer showed us, looks pretty interesting.

Also, Joker in Smash is…interesting. He plays a LOT differently than any other character in Smash Ultimate and does take some getting used to. But when his Persona activates…watch out. One additional fighter down…four more to go. Who's gonna be next, I wonder?

Also, who's excited for Endgame this weekend? Word of advice: STAY AWAY FROM DRINKS BEFORE THE FILM. It's gonna be three friggin hours long.

Anyways, I think now I'm gonna try to get another chapter out for Bass Battle Network DxD: Axess. So, sorry if not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but I like to make sure things are well developed in my stories. And that means taking the long road to things. It's going to be some time before we get to some things in cannon.

Until then, STAY TUNED


	9. Chapter 8point5

**Chapter 8.5**

 **PSA 1: Collector's Conundrum**

We see both Sam and Zero standing in front of the Resistance camp storage, facing us.

"Hey there," Sam speaks. "I'm Sam King, the OC created specifically for TheOmega360's Drakengard/NieR crossover fic, Overslept."

…

There's a bit of silence.

"Zero," Sam whispers. "That's your cue."

"This is so stupid," Zero grumbles. "Why are we doing this?"

"Because we're bored and you wanted to do something that didn't involve me back-seat gaming."

"This is even more annoying than that."

"Well, we're stuck in this camp either until Anemone gives us an escort to explore, or until the writer pulls his head out of his ass and moves the plot along. So pick your fucking poison and deal with it. We might as well make something productive out of it. Besides, I also remember you saying you were slightly interested in how this video stuff was done."

"Okay, fine, goddamnit," Zero complains and then turns to the reader. "And I'm Zero, originally from Square Enix's Drakengard3, also known as Drag-On Dragoon 3 in Japan. Hey, Sam, been meaning to ask," Zero adds turning to Sam. "Why the fuck does the series I'm part of have two different names in two different countries?"

"Mostly, localization stuff," Sam replies. "It's not really that important."

"Is this one of those things that wouldn't make since, unless I lived in your era?"

"Zero, I barely understand that crap myself," Sam answers bluntly.

"Okay, then yeah, definitely not important."

"Anyways," Sam says turning back to the reader. "I'm sure you NieR, Drakengard and Square fans are aware of the release of NieR: Automata: Game of the YoRHa Edition almost two months ago."

"Why the fuck do they call it that?" Zero asks.

"It's wordplay for 'Game of the year.'"

"What's that?"

"An award that a video game receives for being the best game to come out during year."

"...Sounds like something that's not always accurate."

"Tell me about it," Sam grunts. "A lot of games in my high school days get praised for reasons that don't matter, and bashed for reasons that are superficial."

"Like Mighty No. 9?"

"Exactly. Wait, in which context?"

"In your words, 'The Mega Man we didn't necessarily need, but were too butt hurt to be thankful for."

"Yea—wait you agree with me, on that?"

"It's not perfect, but it's less frustrating than Ninja Gaiden."

"Understatement FTW," Sam comments. "Anyways, back on topic, this edition of our beloved mechanical romance story game includes everything the digital Xbox One exclusive BECOME AS GODS Edition has, the base game, the expansion DLC—"

"Which has a ridiculously cryptic name that's too long and difficult to say in conversation," Zero interjects.

"All content that was originally included in the Day One Edition," Sam continues. "The Machine mask, Cardboard, Playstation, Retro Grey, Retro Red, and the Grimoire Weiss Pod skins."

"I still say my cover is not that drab," Weiss complains from off to the side.

"Can it, Shakespeare!" Sam yells to the posh tome.

Rubrum can be heard chuckling off to the side, along with Weiss grumbling irritably.

"And for this edition, exclusive PS4 Avatars, and a brand new PS4 Dynamic theme for the system menu," Sam concluded.

There's a moment of silence as the reader takes this information in.

"So…it's basically the same thing as the Xbox edition that was released earlier," Zero summarized.

"Well…kinda," Sam answered. "The only differences are those last two things I mentioned, the Avatars and the Theme. And the fact there's a physical copy instead of digital only."

"What about the PC version?" Zero asks. "Is that getting anything?"

"Pretty sure I told you no one really cares about that port," Sam bluntly answers.

"Meh, I barely care about what were doing right now."

"You will eventually."

"Huh?"

"Now, I'm sure quite a bit of you are asking yourselves, assuming of course you already have a copy of the base game prior to this release, 'Why should I consider getting this?' Well that depends on who you ask, and we're not going to try and convince you to get it—"

"Cuz it's a waste of money?" Zero asks.

"No, because it's none of our business. And it might violate the outdated rules of this site and get a certain self-proclaimed group of united…criticism, or some dumb group or whatever, that are about as nosy and irritating as the homeowners association in my parent's neighborhood."

"Both of those groups sound laughably unintimidating."

"Really cranking out those understatements, Z. Anyways, what we will tell you to consider what I like to call the 'Collector's Conundrum.'"

"The huh?"

"Any die hard fan of any series, depending on who they are, is more often than not, going to want to have more items related to that franchise in their collection, weather it's the next installation of the series, or merchandise associated with it."

"How does this affect me again?" Zero asks.

"Getting to that," Sam answered. "But obviously, collecting stuff costs money, and depending on what you want to get, the costs of such collections can cost up to thousands of dollars. Or Gs in our case, but that's easy money for some of us more than others." This last part is said as Sam glances at Zero.

"I won't lie, doing all those small jobs for Accord did pay off," the Intoner replies.

"Which brings me to my first point using Zero's weapon obsession as an example. Getting a different version of something you already have and already works just fine."

"Wh—hey, I do not have _that_ bad of an obsession with killing tools!" Zero protests.

"Zero, you practically drooled when you saw 2B's Beastlord. Throw in a happy-go-lucky attitude and you'd give Ruby Rose a run for her lien."

"Uuuuuuugh," Zero shudders. "The dreaded Two clone."

"She's got dozens of swords, spears, combat bracers, spikey metal frisbees—"

"Chakarms," Zero corrects.

"Yeah, I can't pronounce that, and the writer probably can't spell it," Sam comments. "And recently, she's been obsessed with guns."

"What can I say? Bitches love cannons," Zero comments with a smarmy smirk.

"You'd think one would be enough, especially with the kind of upgrades and maintenance that the future holds, making any weapon in existence practically immortal in terms of durability. Times infinity to the power of ridiculous when you throw in Zero's mastery of magic."

"There's not kill quite like overkill. That's my motto."

"Of course it would be. But just like with Pokemon, she's gotta catch 'em all. One isn't enough."

"It's a hobby, Sam. Don't over analyze it."

"And like with all collection hobbies, the one thing you have to consider is this: Do you really need it? And more importantly, do you really need it right now? Gamming is an expensive hobby. For example, the Black Box Edition of NieR: Automata contains a lot more than any of the last three editions mentioned. The game, the Day One DLC, a snappy steelbook case, a 150mm 2B figurine, a 62 page hardback art book, an exclusive soundrack containing live recordings of 13 songs from the OSTs of both NieR and NieR: Automata, all of which is neatly wrapped up in a black collector's box embedded with the YoRHa insignia, and that's placed in the cover sleeve."

"Whoa, okay, that sounds like a better buy, than game of corny wordplay edition," Zero comments, completely impressed.

"Yeah…well…here's the thing. These kinds of limited editions that come with merchandise…the gaming companies can only afford so much to produce different types of merchandise exclusives in addition to one of their games or franchises, and depending on how much of the budget is spent on that, it can either make or break a release. So obviously it's a matter of time before the publisher stops selling them. And in the case of the Black Box Edition, that expiration date is over two years old now."

"So…that means you can't get it anymore?" Zero asks puzzled.

"Not necessarily," Sam explains. "There's plenty of online stores that still offer the Black Box Edition. But, depending on the vendor, and the condition of all the contents…or, what remain of them, the price can rage from $500 to over $1000."

"Whoa, what fuck?!" Zero exclaims. "That shit's worth _that much?!"_

"Well, since the Black Box Edition materials are no longer being made, they've become extremely rare items," Sam explains. "Making them extremely valuable to both collectors, and vendors. Supply goes down, demand goes up, and with it, so does the price."

"I don't think that's how supply and demand works," 9S commented from off the side.

"Clearly you've never been to Wall Street," Sam retorts.

"Why the hell would someone want to spend _that_ much money on something they don't need?" Zero questions out loud.

"Exactly," Sam agrees. "If you've got that kind of money, then it's better utilized on things that you actually _need,_ such as college, rent, groceries, loans—"

"Or that awesome shampoo and deoderant stuff that don't make you smell like Mikhail," Zero added.

"Yeah, cuz if you can afford to go to E3, you can afford to manage your own personal hygine, you fuckin' slob."

The screen then fades out.

VOICE CAST

Sam King—Andrew Hindle

Zero—Tara Platt

Grimore Weiss—Liam O'Brien

Grimore Rubrum—Monica Rial

9S—Kyle McCarley

"Hey Sam, out of curiosity, do you know if the writer is getting the new edition?" Zero asks during the credits

"Well, considering he accidentally bought the Day One Edition and the voucher was already used, he's on the fence about it, last I heard," Sam replies. "But if he does, it might not be until after DMC5."

"Well, at least he knows how to prioritize."

...

AN: Caught ya by suprise with this one, didn't I? Y'know hoe Red Vs Blue does some non-cannon PSAs? Well, I thought I'd do the same with this lil' story of mine. Kinda like an omake. Now, before you ask, this is NON-CANNON to my fic. Enough said. Would you guys like me to do more of these?

Also a couple of things I need to say to an Annon: Unfortunatly I have to correct you on something. Jackass _does_ have an eyepatch covering her right eye, it's jus hard to tell from her character model alone, unless you screen shot her. Look up both official and fan art works of her and you'll see what I mean.

Technically having the year at 1000 in Drakengard 3 would mean that Zero is slightly less older than what I made her out to be in terms of time and space. But even if I went back and fixed that discrepancy, it would be moot, beause the idea would be the same.

As for the rest of the Intoners...I think I'll leave you in the dark about that, hue, hue, hue. And Kaine? I like her, but don't get your hopes up.

And no, the Drakengard and NieR characters will never find out they're in a game because that's not how I'm writing this. If your assumption of that is based on Sam merely owning the consoles, then don't you think whe would've either heard of or own NieR: Automata and Drakengard, and recognized the characters?

Okay, now that this is done, back to irl. STAY TUNNED!


End file.
